Suchergebnisse

This paper seeks to demonstrate the potential utility of the Associative Group Analysis (AGA) process to tobacco-related social marketing by identifying perceptual and cognitive similarities and differences toward "tobacco" and "smoking" between four behaviorally defined groups. AGA-based questions were included in a statewide Random Digit Dial (RDD) household telephone survey using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) technology. The AGA provided qualitative and quantitative sensitivity of group perceptions and attitudes not available through traditional survey methods. Results provide specific anti-tobacco marketing messages and themes that should be targeted and addressed for each group. This study has the following implications for social marketing: 1) The AGA methodology has the ability to effectively facilitate the development and assessment of anti-tobacco media campaigns; 2) more generally, the technique can be applied to measure the efficacy of social marketing campaigns in other areas; and 3) the application demonstrates the value of adjustments so that communications can adapt and respond to the dynamics of a group's perceptual-representational framework.

An assertive community treatment (ACT) program was established in the Delaware correctional system in 1990, designed to ease the transition of drug-involved prison releasees into the community by providing both treatment and case management services. Studies to date, however, have found few direct outcome improvements for ACT clients. This article uses panel data collected from a sample of 300 drug-involved Delaware prison releasees, randomly assigned to either the ACT program or to regular probation/work release supervision. A multivariate path model predicts frequency of illegal drug use 18 months after release from prison. Analyses find no direct effects of the ACT program, but suggest indirect effects of ACT assignment on subsequent illegal drug use through intermediate outcomes. By looking at proximate outcomes of the ACT program in the context of other variables, this model suggests areas where case management with seriously drug-involved offenders can be most effective.

This article considers the application of the case management model for community-based treatment of prison releasees. The case management model has been successfully applied to rehabilitation in the social work and mental health fields. The analogies to issues of building protective factors and relapse prevention suggest a direct application to the treatment of drug abusers, and the monitoring components of case management parallel many of the desired supervisory functions of parole and probation. This article reviews the rationale, potential, and few existing applications of case management approaches for criminal justice clients. It then presents findings from an ongoing outcome evaluation of a case management program for parolees. Both the positive and negative results from this study suggest that case management treatment, when mandated in the context of criminal justice supervision, shows promise in reducing relapse to drug use and recidivism.

This study examines the relationship of personality characteristics to drug treatment effectiveness for prison releasees. Prison releasees from two drug treatment programs (an out‐patient setting and a therapeutic community setting) are compared with each other and to releasees from a comparison group. Treatment success is measured 6 months after release from prison in terms of 1) abstinence of illicit drug use and 2) lack of recidivism. The data are analyzed using logistic regression with demographic, criminal history, past drug use, psychological, and treatment measures included in the equations. Findings suggest that several personality dimensions are related to treatment effectiveness, sometimes in unexpected ways. The findings also reveal that different personality characteristics are associated with each of the two measures of treatment success. The results are discussed in terms of policy implications for treatment programs.

The need for drug abuse treatment to reduce recidivism in prison systems has led to increasing interest in treatment alternatives for correctional clients. The research on the effectiveness of treatment alternatives, however, has lagged behind the interest in and implementation of new programs. This article reports on early findings from an ongoing longitudinal study of the efficacy of an intensive case management approach, Assertive Community Treatment (ACT), for treating parolees with past drug problems, compared with a group of parolees who were not offered this treatment program. Using follow-up data on 135 subjects interviewed at release from prison and then reinterviewed about six months later, the ACT group and comparison group are examined in terms of recidivism and relapse to drug use. Bivariate analyses suggest little difference between the two groups. Multivariate analyses, however, suggest several important variables that were not manipulated in this "quasi-experiment," but are predictive of relapse and recidivism. Although the limited sample size available at present precludes any definitive conclusions, discussion focuses on the direction of findings and highlights the necessity for multivariate controls in assessing the effectiveness of any intervention with criminal justice clients.

Delaware researchers have argued for a continuum of primary (in prison), secondary (work release), and tertiary (aftercare) therapeutic community (TC) treatment for drug-involved offenders. Previous work has demonstrated significant reductions in relapse and recidivism for offenders who received primary and secondary TC treatment 1 year after leaving work release. However, much of the effect declines significantly when the time at risk moves to 3 years after release. Further analyses reveal that program effects remain significant when the model takes into account not simply exposure to the TC program, but, more importantly, program participation, program completion, and aftercare. Clients who complete secondary treatment do better than those with no treatment or program dropouts, and those who receive aftercare do even better in remaining drug- and arrest-free.

There is evidence to suggest that drug-involved offenders are more likely to have chronic health problems, which would lead to the expectation that this group would be consumers of a disproportionate amount of health care services. However, other characteristics of the group, including higher rates of unemployment and less likelihood of health insurance, suggest that they may consume relatively low amounts of health services. This study reports on a cohort of drug-involved offenders in Delaware who were interviewed just before release from prison and again at several points following release. When compared to age- and gender-corrected norms from the National Health Interview Survey, the use of health services for drug- and alcohol-related conditions as well as for other physical conditions were all substantially higher for this group of offenders. Discussion centers on the role of drug treatment programs in reducing the need for health care services.

A structural equations model is applied to latent constructs of resources, role strain, symptoms, & elements of the sick role. Questionnaire & interview data are used to test recursive effects along with alternative assumptions of causal ordering among these constructs in the cross-sectional analysis of 2,500 young adults in Houston, Tex. Role strain was found to have direct effects on adopting the sick role independent of level of intervening symptoms. The explanatory role of intervening symptoms is interpreted in terms of legitimate motivation to adopt the sick role; adopting the sick role independent of the theoretically intervening symptoms is interpreted in terms of deviant motivation to avoid role stress. These results demonstrate that degrees of adopting the sick role can be explained both in terms of a deviant motivation to avoid general role strain as well as in terms of normative adaptations to symptoms. 2 Tables, 1 Figure, 38 References. HA

The increasing number of drug-involved offenders under the supervision of the criminal justice system offers a unique opportunity for HIV risk-reduction intervention. This article discusses the HIV risk factors of a cohort court-ordered to attend a 6-month work-release drug treatment program. The treatment paradigm is the therapeutic community, and privileges and freedom increase as inmates progress through the program. Inmates are followed up at 6, 18, and 42 months after program entry, and their HIV risk behaviors are again assessed. Analyses show greater changes in risk behaviors in the treatment cohort compared to a cohort completing a similar work-release program without a treatment component.

Earlier research by Inciardi and colleagues established the long-term positive effects of a therapeutic community (TC) continuum of treatment for drug-involved offenders. Using data from his original longitudinal study and archival records of criminal justice re-arrest and recidivism, this paper extends these analyses to examine the effects of TC treatment on the long-term success of offenders, up to 18 years after release from prison. Multivariate trajectory analysis is used to examine patterns of re-arrest and desistance among a sample of 1363 clients followed up in person for five years and subsequently with record checks through state and NCIC criminal justice systems. Results indicate significant reductions in new arrests for those who received TC treatment in each of the five trajectories modeled for patterns of persistence and desistance. Discussion centers on the strengths of the relationships in each modeled trajectory and the implications for long-term understanding of drug offenders and criminal behavior.