Prisoner knowledge about head injury is Improved by brief psychoeducation.

Introduction: The high prevalence of head injury (HI) in prisoners and its association with offending indicates a need for interventions. However, there is little evidence and none for the effectiveness of psychoeducation in improving prisoner knowledge about HI and its effects.

Methods: Small groups of males in two Scottish prisons underwent a 1 hour psychoeducation session delivered by PowerPoint and combined with question and answer, video clips and a booklet about HI. A pre-post intervention design was used to assess knowledge about HI from vignettes. Participants indicated effects of HI using unprompted free recall and then with a questionnaire (the Symptom Checklist; SCL), pre-education (n = 34), post-education (n = 19) and at 4-week follow-up (n = 11). Free recall was scored using symptom lists from national guidelines (FR-SIGN) or the SCL (FR-SCL). Within-subject comparisons were made between pre-intervention, post-intervention and follow-up scores.

Results: Knowledge about HI significantly increased pre- to post-education for FR-SIGN (0.91; 95% CI 0.62, 2.53) and FR-SCL ( = 0.99; 95% CI 0.95, 4.00) without decrement at follow-up (FR-SIGN 1.27; 95% CI 0.53, 2.56; FR-SCL 0.60). Scores on the SCL did not change over time (p > .05).

Conclusion: Prisoner knowledge about HI was improved by brief psychoeducation suitable for delivery in prisons.