A systematic review of interventions for imprisoned women with experience of domestic violence and abuse

Globally, the rate of domestic violence and abuse (DVA) experienced by the female prison population is estimated to be high. This review explored the evidence on interventions for women with experience of DVA in prison and post-release during the resettlement period. The databases Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest (Social Sciences Premium Collection) and several secondary databases were searched and supplemented with additional searching techniques (hand and citation searching, along with a search for grey literature). A total of 11 studies were included in the review. The main themes are: underpinning theory; design and delivery of interventions; positive impacts to mental health and emotional well-being; impact to social connectedness; improved knowledge about DVA; improved parenting knowledge; support in prisons outside of interventions; and post-prison and resettlement. Overall, the review found a dearth of rigorous evidence with only two studies which addressed the post-release period.