Health Informatics

Funded by the National Library of Medicine (2020-2024)

Individuals released from correctional facilities have high rates of hospitalization and death, especially in the weeks following release. Disproportionately poor and of racial and ethnic minority groups, they are already a high-risk group for poor health outcomes. The transition back to the community is marked with additional difficulties navigating the healthcare, community correctional, and social service systems and structural barriers to obtaining healthcare, housing, and employment. Individuals released from correctional facilities must engage with many providers, which presents challenges organizing and acting on information received from various organizations. Personal health information technologies are untapped resources which could improve the transition from corrections to the community and mitigate health risks. The long-term goal of this project is to improve the health of formerly incarcerated people, facilitated by their use of personal health information technologies. We are developing and testing strategies, in partnership with formerly incarcerated people, to increase acceptance and use of a personal health library (PerHL) mobile app. Our aims are to: (1) Assess the facilitators and barriers of the development and use of personal health information technology for formerly incarcerated individuals, (2) Develop and refine PerHL for formerly incarcerated individuals, and (3) Conduct a pilot randomized trial to test the acceptance and use of PerHL among formerly incarcerated individuals.