Assessing the impact of prison environmental design on prisoners' behavioral mental health and reducing violence-related harms

Determining and comparing the average mental-behavioral health scores of male and female prisoners in Shahrekord Prison, before and after implementing an environmental design intervention, in the intervention and control groups.

A controlled clinical trial with parallel groups, no blinding, randomized, phase 2, 94 subjects. A random number table will be used for randomization.

The study will be conducted using a pre-test-post-test method among prisoners in Shahrekord Central Prison. Participants will be divided into two intervention and control groups, and the evaluation of psychological, behavioral, and prison environmental variables will be conducted using standard and researcher-made questionnaires before and after the implementation of the prison environmental design.

Inclusion criteria: Age over 18, ability to answer questions, length of stay in prison equal to the pre-test and post-test periods. Exclusion criteria: Severe mental disorder or documented acute crisis, severe speech/hearing impairment that prevents response, active use of psychotropic substances/medications that interfere with results, very serious crimes with security restrictions.

Intervention group: Received prison environmental design Control group: Did not receive prison environmental design

Average mental health score (depression, anxiety and stress) Average aggression score Average prisoners' environmental perception score Average prison environmental objective assessment score

In this study, due to the nature of the intervention (environmental design at the level of physical spaces), the randomization unit at the prison ward level will be considered as a cluster. In order to control the effect of potential confounding variables such as [e.g., ward population density, security or semi-security status of the ward], the existing wards will first be stratified (classified) based on these variables. Then, in each stratum, the wards will be randomly assigned to two intervention groups (recipients of the new environmental design) and control (with usual environmental conditions) using a random number table. To comply with the principle of allocation concealment, the randomization sequence will be prepared by someone outside the implementation team and kept in sealed, opaque envelopes to avoid bias in ward selection. Also, to reduce bias in the evaluation of the results, the evaluators of mental health and behavioral outcomes will be unaware of the ward allocation status (intervention or control).

Some data, such as information related to the main outcome or the like, can be shared after being de-identified.

Access period starts 6 months after results are published.

Researchers working in academic and scientific institutions

Non-personally identifiable data from this study will be made available to researchers solely for the purpose of conducting advanced statistical analyses, including secondary analyses, combined analyses with other studies, and complementary analyses with more advanced methods. Applicants for data and documentation must be qualified researchers (faculty members, postdoctoral researchers, or graduate students) from accredited academic or research institutions and must submit their application along with a written research proposal that has been approved by the ethics committee of the applicant institution. Acceptance and signing of a confidentiality and data use agreement is mandatory, according to which applicants undertake to use the data only for approved research purposes, refrain from any attempt to re-identify individuals, not provide the data to third parties, and provide the final results to the main research team. The use of documentation such as questionnaires and intervention protocols is permitted solely for research and educational purposes and any commercial use is prohibited. In all publications based on this data, it is mandatory to cite the original source and reference the basic study.

Principal Investigator Zohreh Karimiankakolaki Zohrehkarimian68@gmail.com

Send an email to the principal investigator stating the reasons and conditions and respond within one working week.