McNair Scholar 2024 - Cayla Bishop
Cayla Bishop is a senior at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, majoring in Family Social Science and minoring in Learning Technologies. Her research interests revolve around understanding the disparities that people of color face in the school system and health disparities for women of color.
Quote from Cayla Bishop
My dream is to gain a Ph.D in the social sciences to help solve inequalities in young people’s lives such as homelessness, and mentorship needs, and provide community resources.
Research project
Perinatal Programs for People in Prison: A Policy Analysis
Abstract
Incarcerated women have limited access to reproductive health care and are exposed to many risks that can lead to compromising a healthy pregnancy. There are currently no national healthcare standards for incarcerated people; care and treatment varies considerably across states. As such, understanding the laws and policies that relate to perinatal programs for this population is an important first step for guiding future policy and practice. This policy analysis reviews current state laws related to perinatal programs for pregnant and postpartum incarcerated people. A national search of state laws was conducted using WestLaw. Laws were then coded for content related to specific aspects of care and treatment. For the current study, laws that included codes related to “perinatal programs” were further analyzed in Dedoose. After conducting this analysis, we expect to find few states that have laws pertaining to access to perinatal support programs, despite their likely benefit.
Faculty mentor
Dr. Rebecca Shlafer is an Associate Professor in the Division of General Pediatrics and
Adolescent Health in the University of Minnesota’s Medical School. Dr. Shlafer received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology at the Institute of Child Development. Dr. Shlafer's research focuses on promoting the health and well-being of children and families exposed to the criminal legal system. Much of her work focuses on the health of children with parents in prison and jail, as well as the programs and policies that impact families affected by incarceration.