Table Of ContentUniversity of Louisville
ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
5-2011
The lived experience of mothering during incarceration.
Barbara M. Jackson
University of Louisville
Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd
Recommended Citation
Jackson, Barbara M., "The lived experience of mothering during incarceration." (2011). Electronic Theses
and Dissertations. Paper 667.
https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/667
This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's
Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized
administrator of ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of the
author, who has retained all other copyrights. For more information, please contact
THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF MOTHERING DURING INCARCERAn ON
By
Barbara M. Jackson
B.S.N, Indiana University- Southeast, 2005
A Dissertation
Submitted to the Faculty ofthe
School of Nursing of the University of Louisville
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
F or the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
School of Nursing
University of Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky
May 2011
Copyright 2011 by Barbara M. Jackson
All rights reserved
THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF MOTHERING DURING INCARCERATION
By
Barbara M. Jackson
B.S.N., Indiana University-Southeast
A Dissertation Approved on
April 15,2011
By the fullowing Dissertation Committee:
Dr. Vicki Hines-M~ Dissertation Cil'air
)
Dr. Deborah Armstrong
,- ,
~ggy EI-Mallakh
Iii. J. Price Foster
Dr. Muriel Harris
11
DEDICATION
This dissertation is dedicated to my husband, John, for giving me encouragement
and love when the road became rough and for always being on my side, regardless. You
are my champion and your support has let me succeed. Thank you for holding things
together for these last few years and for giving me the freedom to pursue my goal.
To my daughters, Amanda and Cynthia, thank you for giving me a reason to forge
ahead and providing me with endless hours of laughter and joy. You make me want to be
a better person and a better mother and it is because of who you are as young women that
I treasure being your mother.
To my dad, thank you for always believing that I could and would finish this piece
of work, providing me the countdown to the finish and always giving me unwavering
love and support.
To my mom, thank you for giving me the inspiration to pursue this degree and
allowing me to find my own way. I cherish you as my colleague, my mother, and my
friend.
III
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank my dissertation chairperson, Dr. Vicki Hines-Martin. You
have given me much motivation throughout this process with your enthusiasm for my
research. Your optimism and confidence in my work allowed me to reach new heights. I
would also like to thank Dr. Deby Armstrong for being there from the beginning of this
adventure and giving me so much encouragement and support. To Drs. EI-Mallakh,
Harris, and Foster: thank you for your invaluable guidance with my research and
dissertation. As my dissertation committee, you all have inspired me with your
knowledge and freely imparted your wisdom.
I would like to thank Janet Conover, the warden at the Kentucky Correctional
Institution for Women. I appreciate you opening the doors to your prison and allowing
me to work with the mothers who reside at your facility. To Shannon Butrum, Procedures
Officer at Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women, thank you so very much for all
of the time you committed to organizing and scheduling my visits to KCIW. You have
been a gracious and kind collaborator in this project and I appreciate everything you did
to assist me in reaching my goal.
I would also like to express my gratitude to Dr. Jacque Reid, associate professor
at the School of Nursing at Indiana University Southeast for inspiring me to work with
the women at KCIW. Providing me with the opportunity to teach prenatal classes to the
incarcerated women at KCIW in my undergraduate program started me on this path and I
will be forever grateful for your guidance and friendship. As well, I would like to thank
IV
Dr. Mimi McKay, Dean at the School of Nursing at Indiana University Southeast, who
along with Jacque, introduced me to conducting research with incarcerated women by
allowing me to assist in collecting data for their study.
To my colleagues and friends, thank you for lending me a sympathetic ear, even
when my thoughts were jumbled and my perspective was skewed, and for being my
cheerleaders and showing me the love that helped guide me along the yellow brick road.
v
ABSTRACT
The Lived Experience of Mothering During Incarceration
Barbara M. Jackson
April 15. 2011
A phenomenological study of the lived experience of mothering during
incarceration was conducted at a women's multi-custody level prison in Kentucky. The
purpose of the study was to explore and describe the experience of mothering among
incarcerated women to address the gap within this body of literature. Semi-structured
interviews, observation, and field notes from 24 participants were collected and analyzed
to provide an in-depth understanding of the mothering experience for the participants.
Burnard's method was used for analysis of the interview data. Two major themes
emerged including: Living in the fire: The lived experience of incarcerated mothers
which stemmed from two sub-themes: "Mistakes were made" and the 'Here and Now' of
it and "Emerging from the fire: Dreams for the future as mothers" which arose from the
sub-themes "Motivated to change" and "Redefining themselves".
VI
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................... .iv
ABSTRACT .......................................................................................... vi
LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................x
LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................x i
INTRODUCTION .................................................................................... 1
Background and Significance ofthe Problem .......................................... .l
Purpose of the Study .......................................................................4
Definition of Terms ......................................................................... 5
Importance of the Study ......................................................... , .......... 5
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 8
Incarceration Period ........................................................................ 8
Reasons women commit crimes ................................................... 8
Characteristics of incarcerated women ......................................... 11
Substance abuse .......................................................... 11
Education .................................................................. 12
Socioeconomic status ................................................... 13
Consequences for the children ................................................... 14
Parenthood .................................................................................. 16
Mothering ........................................................................... 16
Preparing to Go Home ..................................................................... 19
Vll
