Raising Babies in Prison

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Research Proposal: Effect of Children Living With or Without Their Mothers in Prison
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Research Proposal
Introduction
The following proposal aims to articulate the components of a research study including women that are currently incarcerated at an all-women's prison in the Midwest. Often, women are allowed to have their babies with them in prisons while they are serving short sentences. Sometimes, women choose to have their babies with them or they choose to have someone else care for their baby while they are finishing their sentence. The main concept of this study is to look at both the effects of children's well-being of living with or without their mother - depending on the mother's choice of where the baby is raised.
Elements of the Study
For this study, I will use a mixed method approach using both quantitative and qualitative data. Using a mixed methods approach allows for great depth and breadth of exploring the research problems and/or hypothesis. The research question and hypothesis is:
Research question: Should prison offer programs that enable women to keep their babies after they give birth while incarcerated?
Research hypothesis: Prisons should offer programs that enable women to keep their babies after they give birth while incarcerated in certain circumstances because both the mother and their baby will benefit from it.
Ethical Considerations
One way to avoid unethical practices and ensuring ethical consideration is the use of an informed consent. The participants will have the opportunity to read the informed consent that provides details of the program. The informed consent is also a written agreement that the participants sign as willingness for themselves and the children to participate in the program (Rosnow & Rosenthal, 2008). Another way for prisons to show ethical consideration is ensuring confidentiality. The responsibility of the prison staff is to make sure he or she respects the privacy of the mother and children. Staff members of the prisons must use good work ethics by keeping information secure and confidential at all times. .
Ensuring the participants are not misled is another ethical consideration. The mothers participating in prison programs should have knowledge about the pros and cons of participation, to eliminate the possibility of deception. The mother has the right to accurate and honest information. Giving false information or misleading information is a demonstration of active deception. The staff should also demonstrate ethical consideration regarding withholding information. Demonstration of good ethical practice includes making sure participants are aware of personal information and information pertaining to the program. Withholding information is the same as passive deception. The sense of deception from participating mothers may cause withdrawal from the program. In return, negative consequences such as not participating in the program and not developing a relationship with the children may occur. Ethical consideration when dealing with mothers and children living in prisons together help ensure a chance to have a good relationship.
Procedure
I will be comparing two groups of women who have children in prison including 1) mothers who keep their babies with them in prison and 2) women who choose to give their babies to someone else outside of prison. Qualitative information will be collected in the form of observations made by caseworkers who work with these women after they are released from prison. The caseworkers will document their observations using standard questionnaires. The babies will also be evaluated by a physician or nurse to determine their overall levels of health and wellness. The quantitative information will be collected in the form of surveys provided to the women and will be created using a 4-point, likert-type scale.
A control group will also be used. The control group will include the women who do not raise their babies in prison, and the information regarding women who keep their babies in prison will be compared to the information collected from the control group. I will take into consideration as many variables as possible when interpreting the results. Caseworkers will meet with each woman after she has been released from prison and then again at six months, 12 months, 18 months, and 24 months after release, making this a longitudinal design. The same information will be collected at each meeting and will be analyzed after all of the data has been collected.
Survey Design
The survey design will be created to determine if women who kept their children while incarcerated have a better relationship with ...