Stress Reduction Through a Brief Writing Intervention With Women in Jail.
To assess the feasibility/acceptability of writing as a stress reduction strategy with incarcerated women.



The authors implemented a writing intervention in which six women wrote on topics of their choosing for 20 minutes on 5 consecutive days. Feasibility was assessed with investigator field notes; daily post-writing evaluations assessed intervention acceptability. The study also assessed the continuation of writing at 1-month postintervention and acceptability of instruments for evaluation of future interventions.



Implementation barriers were minimal; participants voiced enthusiasm about the program and continued to write 3 to 4 days per week in the month postintervention. No problems were encountered in the completion of evaluation instruments.



Writing is a feasible, reproducible stress relief intervention for incarcerated women.
Department of Counseling Psychology, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
Tyson
T
Pankey
School of Nursing and Health Studies, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City, MO, USA kellypj@umkc.edu.
Patricia J
PJ
Kelly
Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of Kansas School of Medicine, Kansas City, KS, USA.
Megha
M
Ramaswamy
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology*; D011330:Prisons; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D014956:Writing
incarcerated populations; jail; pilot study; stress; women; writing interventions