Retention Strategies in Working With Justice-Involved Women

Abstract

Research-based findings with vulnerable populations are strengthened by strong retention rates at the time of postintervention data collection. Women in the criminal justice system face a variety of gender-specific challenges including histories of childhood and adult sexual and physical abuse, substance abuse, untreated mental health problems, and chronic housing insecurity that can hinder follow-up of a research sample. The authors highlight a variety of retention strategies that they successfully used in their work with women following incarceration in local county jails.

Keywords: community corrections; incarcerated populations; research methods; retention; women.

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors disclosed no conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, or publication of this article. For information about JCHC’s disclosure policy, please see the Self-Study Program.