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Follow-up study of female delinquent adolescents in a detention centre: effectiveness of psychiatric intervention as a mental health service

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Nozominosono, National Center for Persons with Severe Intellectual Disabilities, Takasaki, Japan
² General Health Support Centre, Gunma University, Maebashi, Japan
³ Takasaki University of Health and Welfare, Takasaki, Japan
⁴ Department of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Japan
⁵ Haruna Joshi Gakuen (Female Reformatory School), Gunma, Japan

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: toruaki{at}med.gunma-u.ac.up.

	Abstract

Background: Results of previous studies suggest that many female offenders have co-morbid psychiatric disorders, which require mental health services. However, few longitudinal studies examined subjects during incarceration or detention. This study compares depressive symptoms, abnormal eating behaviour and impulsivity before release from a detention centre and after incarceration, thereby indicating the effectiveness of psychiatric intervention in a Japanese detention centre.

Method: Of 64 young women, 36 were followed up. Self-report measures were used to assess depression, eating behaviour and impulsivity after incarceration and one month before release.

Results: Of the 36 participants, nine were diagnosed using the MINI-kids as needing mental health services. Those who received psychiatric intervention were diag-nosed as having major depression and/or post-traumatic stress disorder. Significant main effects of intervention and effects of time were shown in the DSD. The EAT-26 score demonstrated the significance of the effects of time and interaction. In the BIS-11 scores, neither intervention nor time showed significant effects.

Conclusions: Results of this study showed that the time course and psychiatric intervention contributed to recovery of depression and therapeutic inter-vention. The time course might reduce eating problems. Psychiatric intervention might be necessary for female juvenile detainees, which presents an important issue for future studies.

First published on October 29, 2009
International Journal of Social Psychiatry 2009, doi:10.1177/0020764008095114


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