Sponsor
Portland State College. School of Social Work
Term of Graduation
Spring 1966
Date of Publication
5-13-1966
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Social Work (MSW)
Department
Social Work
Language
English
Subjects
Social work with criminals
DOI
10.15760/etd.506
Physical Description
1 online resource (204 pages)
Abstract
This descriptive study was designed to elicit the kinds, extensity and intensity of needs of the inmate population of Multnomah County Correctional Institution, a minimum security jail for misdemeanants.
A guiding hypothesis asserted that there were unmet needs of prisoners which could be met through social work services both within and outside the institution.
Almost the entire population of the institution was interviewed. Open-end and structured responses were recorded on schedules. Five broad areas of need were defined. These were 1) physical needs -- including food, clothing, shelter, and medical care; 2) social needs -- including interpersonal ties, group membership, religious, and recreational needs; 3) psychological needs -- including the individual’s self concept, attitudes towards accepting help, desire for change, and his present level of achievement versus level of aspiration; 4) educational needs -- including academic, vocational, or remedial schooling; and 5) financial needs -- including post-release funds, debts, and employment.
Statistical measures tested consistency, whether interviewers projected their own values, and interviewer reliability. Variances showed differences were due mostly to inmate traits and not interviewer bias, except that the weight given to some inmate needs varied more than chance at the .05 level.
The 59 men saw themselves as having some 102 categorized needs immediate upon release and 320 long-range needs, nearly all directly related to social work services.
Findings suggested additional research in the following areas:
- To determine the similarity or dissimilarity of inmate needs of misdemeanants elsewhere.
- To determine to what extent community resources can be made available in responding to the needs of released prisoners.
- To determine family needs of inmates.
Implications of the study favored the use of social workers within the institution itself, evaluation of existing social work services, the establishment of a job-placement program and creation of a down-town center to serve a number of secular needs.
Rights
In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/8194
Recommended Citation
Harkins, Jerry M., "Unmet Social Work Needs in an Inmate Population of a County Correctional Institution" (1966). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 506.
https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.506
Comments
Other authors: Melbourne W. Henry, Virginia J. Hodges, Sister Mary Patrick O’Meara, Elisabeth N. Siegel, Donna B. Wilkins
A group project submitted to Portland State College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Social Work.
If you are the rightful copyright holder of this dissertation or thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to pdxscholar@pdx.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.