Benefits of a Yoga intervention in portuguese female inmates: preliminary results

Background: Research in the prison context has revealed the need to find alternative forms to help prisoners cope with prison life, improve their general health and promote their rehabilitation. Some of these techniques include the practice of Yoga, mindfulness and meditation. In fact, Yoga has shown to have potential to improve some dimensions that could decrease the risk of criminal behavior (e.g. depression, emotion regulation).  The results of a systematic review and two meta-analyses that examined the relationship between Yoga programs and meditation in prisons revealed the increased of psychological well-being and improvements in the behavioral functioning of inmates suggesting that Yoga and meditation programs in prison contexts have positive outcomes associated with psychological well-being and behavioral functioning of participants.
Methods: The study aimed to investigate the impact of  Yoga intervention (1 class per week, during 3 months)  on the resilient coping and affective states  in a group of female inmates from a prison facility in the inland region of Portugal. For the evaluation of the Yoga program impact it was conducted a mixed-methods quasi-experimental study using self-report measures: i) BCRS - Brief Coping Resilience Scale; ii) PANAS-VRP - Positive and Negative Affect Schedule and a brief questionnaire with a Likert scale (5 points) that assessed dimensions such as motivation and expectations for the practice of yoga, as well as observation records filled by the facilitator regarding individual and collective evolution of participants during the activity. The evaluation instruments were applied to the intervention group  (N= 9) and control group (N= 12), before the beginning of the yoga activity and 12 weeks after. At the end of the intervention, a focus group was held with the participants (N= 6) to explore their experiences and perception of the benefits of the intervention, barriers and facilitators to participation, as well as suggestions for improvement.
Results: The sample was composed of 9 female prisoners on the intervention group, with an average age of 43 years and a low level of education (78% have 6th grade or less and 22% have 9th grade) and a control group with 12 female prisoners with similar characteristics. Preliminary results, considering the integration of quantitative and qualitative data, suggested the promise of Yoga intervention in promoting positive affectivity and the ability to deal with adversity in a prison context. Furthermore, qualitative reports demonstrated that the intervention seemed to exceed the participants' expectations and contributed to better management of stress and anxiety, as well as closer relationships between peers.
Conclusions: Yoga as form of intervention has potential to improve physical activity, affective states, and to reinforce coping strategies in the female inmates to help them cope with the challenges of the prison setting. Future studies should be conducted.