Understanding Weight Change while Incarcerated: Qualitative Groundwork for a Collaborative Health Intervention

In the context of the ever-increasing incarcerated population in the U.S. and our “obesity epidemic,” recent work has investigated whether incarcerated individuals are at higher risk for obesity and related diseases. We build on this scholarship by interviewing incarcerated men and women, as well as correctional facility staff to parse the barriers and facilitators to maintaining a healthy weight on the inside. This qualitative analysis forms the groundwork for a collaborative health intervention to address weight gain and weight maintenance in a U.S. correctional facility.