A study led by Francisco Sampaio, a specialist at the RISE-Health Research Unit, co-authored with PhD student Mariana Alfaiate (RISE-Health/ESEP), analysed the mental health of Portuguese prisoners, identifying family visits and prison regimes as determining factors for well-being and resilience.

“We found that higher levels of resilience are associated with potentially modifiable factors, such as physical exercise, regular face-to-face contact with family/friends, better strategies for dealing with negative emotions and, in this context, more open regimes. On the contrary, exposure to verbal or physical aggression was associated with lower resilience. This helps to guide concrete priorities for promoting mental health in prisons,” emphasises Mariana Alfaiate (RISE-Health/ESEP).

According to the expert from the RISE-Health Research Unit, ‘in the prison context, resilience is a key protective factor, enabling individuals to cope more effectively with the emotional and structural demands of incarceration, especially in contexts characterised by limited social support,’ clarifying that “resilience is, in part, promotable: it can be strengthened with interventions focused on emotional regulation, coping, social support and institutional conditions that reduce risk factors.‘

According to the study published in the journal BMC Psychiatry, ’levels of mental resilience, self-acceptance and perceived social support among prisoners are generally low and significantly influenced by sociodemographic variables,” the scientific paper states.

The need for community reintegration measures

In the study, which involved 576 male participants, researchers from the RISE-Health Research Unit identified family visits as an essential factor for the well-being of individuals in prisons nationwide. “Family visits play a key role in maintaining and strengthening social ties, serving as protective factors for both mental health and general well-being. These visits provide significant relief from the monotony of prison life, promote emotional support, and facilitate ongoing connection with the outside world. They also reinforce family roles, particularly in reaffirming parental identity for those who have children.”

In addition to consistent access to mental health care and the need to facilitate meaningful family contact, integrate structured physical exercise, and offer brief programmes promoting emotional regulation and stress management skills, Mariana Alfaiate highlights the need to ‘ensure mechanisms for continuous monitoring of the quality of care, with systematic collection of mental health indicators, adherence to interventions, and results over time,’ ‘reducing violence and aggression, because this directly undermines well-being and resilience’ and ensuring continuity of care in the transition to the community, to reduce relapses, crises and readmissions after release,” she stressed.

The article ‘Resilience and associated factors within the mental health profile of incarcerated adults in Portugal: a cross-sectional study’ is a scientific work developed by Mariana Alfaiate as part of her PhD and co-authored by Francisco Sampaio (RISE-Health/ESEP), Ana Morais and Lino Ramos.