@article{ref1,
title="Effects of a strategy to improve offender assessment practices: staff perceptions of implementation outcomes",
journal="Drug and alcohol dependence",
year="2015",
author="Welsh, Wayne N. and Lin, Hsiu-Ju and Peters, Roger H. and Stahler, Gerald J. and Lehman, Wayne E. K. and Stein, Lynda A. R. and Monico, Laura and Eggers, Michele and Abdel-Salam, Sami and Pierce, Joshua C. and Hunt, Elizabeth and Gallagher, Colleen and Frisman, Linda K.",
volume="152",
number="",
pages="230-238",
abstract="BACKGROUND: This implementation study examined the impact of an organizational process improvement intervention (OPII) on a continuum of evidence based practices related to assessment and community reentry of drug-involved offenders: Measurement/Instrumentation, Case Plan Integration, Conveyance/Utility, and Service Activation/Delivery. <br><br>METHODS: To assess implementation outcomes (staff perceptions of evidence-based assessment practices), a survey was administered to correctional and treatment staff (n=1509) at 21 sites randomly assigned to an Early- or Delayed-Start condition. Hierarchical linear models with repeated measures were used to examine changes in evidence-based assessment practices over time, and organizational characteristics were examined as covariates to control for differences across the 21 research sites. <br><br>RESULTS: Results demonstrated significant intervention and sustainability effects for three of the four assessment domains examined, although stronger effects were obtained for intra- than inter-agency outcomes. No significant effects were found for Conveyance/Utility. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Implementation interventions such as the OPII represent an important tool to enhance the use of evidence-based assessment practices in large and diverse correctional systems. Intra-agency assessment activities that were more directly under the control of correctional agencies were implemented most effectively. Activities in domains that required cross-systems collaboration were not as successfully implemented, although longer follow-up periods might afford detection of stronger effects.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0376-8716",
doi="10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.03.033",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.03.033"
}