The Role of Social Support on the Performance of Prisoners' Families (Case Study of the Covered Prisoners Families in Tehran)

This study examined the role of social support of the Prisoners' Support Association on the "family performance" of prisoners. The objectives of the research are to assess the role of "livelihood", "vocational", "educational", and" counseling" and "treatment" services on prisoners' "family performance" and various models of social support including direct and indirect impact, Hill prison family crisis and Types of "Hause" social support were examined. This research is a "mixed method" based on "survey" and "questionnaire" in the quantitative part and "focused group discussion" based on "brainstorming" and "exploratory interviews" in the qualitative phase. Quantitative tools include the researcher-made questionnaire of the Prisoners Support Association and the "Epstein Family Performance". The "validity" of the instruments based on "theoretical validity", "factor analysis" and "reliability" of the questionnaires based on the technique of "internal consistency" and "Cronbach's alpha" were confirmed. The statistical population of the quantitative section includes all families covered by Prisoners’ Support Association in Tehran province (3314 families), of which 384 families were selected as a statistical sample based on "stratified random sampling". The statistical population of the qualitative section also includes staff, assistants and prison managers and the "thematic analysis" method was used to extract the findings. Quantitative findings showed services had middle effect on the "family performance"but it's not sufficient resolving needs. Qualitative findings showed that the prisoner’s family need social support from support institutions and it is necessary to use a comprehensive database to address the basic needs of this spectrum and their reunification with community.