Qualitative Study by Helena D. Lewis
Prior to my study, I observed that many of the clients that I worked with had experienced the loss of a loved one while in prison and had not received grief and loss counseling during their incarceration.
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The purpose of my qualitative study was to better understand the lived experiences of formally incarcerated women who experienced the loss of a loved one while incarcerated.
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Methods
The qualitative research design for this study included the interviewing of five English speaking respondents. Qualitative research methods (Padgett, 2017) were believed to be the best way to obtain thorough and holistic descriptions of the respondents' lived experiences of grief while in prison.
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After the research protocol was approved by the Rutgers IRB for human subjects, respondents were recruited through advertisement flyers posted at three reentry programs in New Jersey that provide services to formally incarcerated individuals.
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Snowball sampling (Padgett, 2017) was also used to recruit participants by contacting gatekeepers who provide services to incarcerated and formally incarcerated women.
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A total of 11 potential respondents responded. Six of the potential respondents did not meet the criterion for study.
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