新冠疫情對毒品受刑人心理健康影響之研究

The Impact of COVID-19 on Mental Health of Inmates with Drug Offense

近年人們的生活因新冠疫情而大幅地被改變，為防止病毒擴散有許多防疫措施相應而生，進而對人們的心理健康產生負面的影響。然而，受刑人在疫情期間之心理健康較少被關注，又毒品受刑人之心理狀態具有其特殊性，故本研究將探討毒品受刑人心理健康狀況，及影響心理健康相關因素之性別差異。本研究以問卷調查的方式，針對四間監所以立意抽樣的方式選取服刑時間早於疫情三級警戒（2021年5月19日）的毒品受刑人，有效樣本包含270位女性與159位男性。瞭解其在疫情期間（2021年5月19日至同年7月26日）使用替代接見的經驗、接見與通信的頻率、受防疫措施影響、感知的社會支持、復原力與心理困擾的程度。研究結果發現受到對內防疫措施影響越大與復原力越低，其憂鬱、焦慮與壓力程度越高。另外，迴歸分析顯示影響心理健康因素之性別差異如下：男性與家人接見頻率越高，其焦慮程度越高；女性受到對外防疫措施影響越大，其憂鬱與壓力程度越高。最後亦根據研究結果提出下列政策建議：一、為所有毒品受刑人提供減壓課程與培養復原力；二、提升男性毒品受刑人之溝通技巧以增進家庭關係；三、為女性毒品受刑人定期評估心理健康與提供性別敏感處遇。

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly changed our lives. To prevent the spread of COVID-19, many epidemic prevention measures have been implemented, which may have negative impacts on people’s mental health. The topics regarding inmates’mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic have not received enough attention. To bridge the gap in literature, the current study explored the mental health of inmates with drug offense. It also examined gender differences in factors that affect male and female inmates’mental health. Surveys were conducted with inmates with drug offense who served their sentences before level 3 alert (19 May 2021) in four prisons of Taiwan. The sample included 270 female and 159 male inmates. Specifically, this study examined inmates’experiences with alternative visitation, frequency of visitation and correspondence, perceived impact on epidemic prevention measures, perceived social support, resilience, and psychological distress during the pandemic (between 19 May 2021 and 26 July 2021). The results showed that those inmates who perceived greater impact of internal epidemic prevention measures and had lower resilience, displayed higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress. The regression analysis showed that there were gender differences in factors affecting inmates’mental health. For male inmates, a higher frequency of visitation with family members was associated with higher levels of anxiety. For female inmates, perceived impact of external epidemic prevention measures was positively and significantly associated with depression and stress. Finally, the following policy recommendations are proposed based on the research results: 1. providing stress-reduction courses and cultivating resilience for inmates with drug offense; 2. improving communication skills to
strengthen family relationships for male inmates with drug offense; 3. evaluating mental health regularly and providing gender-responsive treatment to promote mental health for female inmates with drug offense.