Visit to expand knowledge on mitigating risks and providing supports for families affected by incarceration

This application concerns a visit by Dr. Norman to Dr. Eddy at The University of Texas at Austin in the USA to deepen and expand Drs.

Norman’s and Eddy’s respective research programs on mitigating risks and providing supports for families affected by incarceration.Families affected by parental incarceration run a high risk of marginalization, ill-health and criminality, documented by extensive research both internationally as in Sweden.

However, despite the extensive knowledge regarding the high risks, little is yet known regarding how to mitigate these risks and best support these families. In Sweden, applied research on families affected by parental incarceration is relatively new and Dr.

Norman is currently leading the first evidence-informed development of a support intervention for children with parents in prison and their non-incarcerated caregiver (funded by Forte). The ongoing research in Sweden will benefit greatly from Dr. Eddy 25-years’ experience of working in the field in the USA with a high number of prisoners and their families.

This is of specific urgency as Sweden is now moving in the direction to incarcerate a greater number of individuals.

Also, there has been increasing attention in the USA to how the Nordic countries approach incarceration but where multidisciplinary teams that include applied research have been lacking.

The proposed exchange is a contribution by researchers to build evidence that can ultimately be considered by policymakers.The visit has a three-fold focus where Drs.

Norman and Eddy will work on data collected in both countries to examine the role of relationship quality in the families for improving positive prosocial behaviors, and decrease recidivism and also examine factors of importance for providing support for the families. Drs.

Norman and Eddy will also plan for a cross-national project to extend knowledge on cultural and contextual family factors in the work of preventing risk for these families.