Measurement in Correctional Health Research: Unique Challenges and Strategies for Enhanced Rigor

Abstract

It is essential to identify valid and reliable measurement strategies to enhance accurate, comprehensive, and meaningful health assessment and evaluation to improve health outcomes among justice-involved and incarcerated populations. This article identifies and describes three primary challenges related to measurement in correctional health care and makes four recommendations for enhanced measurement rigor from a social justice perspective. First, incorporate incarcerated persons into the measurement research process; second, enhance psychometric investigation in correctional health settings; third, increase the collection of individual-level, health-related data from incarcerated populations; and fourth, create and maintain centralized databases and comprehensive codebooks to promote data sharing.