Reproductive-Injustice-FULL-REPORT-FINAL-2-11-15

• The pregnancy survey asks women about their experiences with pregnancy care in DOCCS,
including access to and quality of prenatal care; care for
women who have abortions; care for women who have
Specific GYN Issues
miscarriages; care during labor and delivery; postpartum
47) The last time you asked to see the GYN, how long did you have to wait
__________ days/weeks/months (circle one)
care; experiences with childbirth; experiences with
(Check all that apply to you)
r Lumps in your breast
shackling during pregnancy, labor, delivery and
r Problems with your period. For example, if your period:
• comes too often or lasts too long
• doesn’t come at all sometimes
postpartum recovery; experiences of pregnant women
• is painful/you have bad cramps
• is very heavy
r Fibroids (These are tumors which do not cause cancer
that grow in or around your uterus/womb
in solitary confinement; and experiences with prison
and can cause bleeding, pain or other problems)
r Discharge, itching or burning from your vagina, and/or
a yeast infection
nurseries. From 2009 to 2011, we sent 99 pregnancy
r Bladder infection or Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)
r Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs, for example, HIV,
Hepatitis C, herpes, syphilis, gonorrhea,
surveys to women who were or had been pregnant in
chlamydia, trich (trichomoniasis), HPV, genital warts)
r An infection in your pelvis (called “Pelvic Inflammatory Disease/PID”)
r Endometriosis (when tissue grows outside of your uterus/womb and causes pain)
DOCCS. This pool came from women who indicated in
r Serious pain in your pelvis, vagina or uterus/womb
r Cancer in your:
the general survey that they were or had been pregnant
Question 68)
in DOCCS and wanted to receive a pregnancy survey,
these GYN problems and answer the following questions based on that experience.
49) Did you go to sick call because of your symptoms r YES r NO
and from women we met during prison visits (especially
[If no, please skip to Question 64
[If yes:
a) How did the sick call nurses treat you r Good r Fair r Poor
in the nursery units) and corresponded with from 2009
b) What did they say and do
to 2011 who indicated the same. Of the 99 surveys
we sent, we received back 33, a return rate of 33%. Of
CA/Women in Prison Project – Women’s Health Survey / Page 10
the women who responded, 23 had been pregnant in
DOCCS between 2004 and 2011. We analyzed data only
from those 23 surveys.
This section is about specific GYN issues you have had and your experiences trying to get the care you needed.
48) In the past 5 years, have you had or thought you had any of these problems in a New York State prison
r Breasts r Ovaries (Ovarian Cancer) r Uterus/womb r Vagina r Cervix (Cervical cancer)
[ If you did NOT check anything on the list above, please skip to the next section (OVERALL GYN CARE,
[ If you DID check anything on the list above, please think about the most recent time you had one of
• The HIV survey includes questions about women’s experiences with HIV and hepatitis C testing
and counseling; prevention, education and support services; attitudes and stigma; and access
to and quality of medical care for women living with these two illnesses. In winter 2010, we
sent HIV surveys to the 386 women who indicated in the general survey that they wanted to
receive an HIV survey. Living with HIV or hepatitis C was not a requirement to receive the
survey. Of the 386 surveys we sent, we received back 112, a response rate of 29%.
We worked with a statistician to analyze the survey data using the statistical analysis software
SPSS. We use the term “survey respondents” in this report to refer to the pool of people who
responded to a particular survey and answered the specific question being referenced. For
example, when we report that one-third (34%, 108 of 319) of reproductive health survey
respondents rated the overall quality of GYN care since arriving in DOCCS as “poor,” we mean that
319 of all reproductive health survey respondents answered the question asking them to rate the
overall quality of GYN care and that 108 of those 319 respondents rated the care as “poor.”
Because women self-selected to take the survey, there is a possibility that a disproportionate
number of women with negative experiences returned the surveys, which would create bias
in the data toward more negative responses. In addition, because the surveys were selfadministered,
a disproportionate number of women with higher literacy skills may have
returned the surveys.
Methodology February 2015 15