Abstract
Project Connect is a multilayered county-specific program aimed at linking juvenile probationers to needed mental health and substance use services. In four NY counties, the intervention included cooperative agreements between probation and mental health authorities, program materials to facilitate referral, in-service training for probation officers, and systematic screening for mental health needs. Charts for 583 Baseline youths were reviewed and compared with 594 youths undergoing intake under Project Connect. Compared to Baseline, under Project Connect, referred youths were 2.7 times as likely to access services, regardless of youth or county characteristics, service availability, or when the intervention took place.
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Notes
Because probation activities (and re-offending) were ongoing throughout our evaluation, some youths came through intake during Baseline and continued their probation contact after training (n = 324). The portion of these youths’ service records that was reviewed through the week after training is considered in the Baseline dataset; because they would likely have been influenced by training, continuing probation contact and services occurring more than a week after training were excluded from analysis.
Service records for some youths (n = 32 of 594) who went through intake at the very end of the Baseline condition (less than a week before training) were fully considered in the post-training dataset, because almost all of their probation contact occurred in that period. The portion of service records for other youths who had been considered in the Baseline sample, but whose contact continued after initiation of Project Connect procedures, was not included in the post-training dataset, since most mental health linkage activities for those youths would either have already occurred, or would have begun during Baseline. Six youths reappeared on a new offense during one or other condition and 12 youths reappeared on a new offense before and after instituting Project Connect. Twenty-eight youths were seen by more than one PO for probation activities related to the same offense; we matched these youths’ data to whichever PO attended the training, or (if both or neither attended) the PO with the longest case responsibility.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by a grant to the first author from SAMHSA (5-SM57433). We would like to acknowledge the help and support of Norma Tyler (NYS DPCA) as well as the Probation Directors and staff in Albany, Broome, Onondaga and Orange County, who made this work possible. We would also like to thank Shane Jones, who helped greatly with the data cleaning and reduction.
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Wasserman, G.A., McReynolds, L.S., Musabegovic, H. et al. Evaluating Project Connect: Improving Juvenile Probationers’ Mental Health and Substance Use Service Access. Adm Policy Ment Health 36, 393–405 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-009-0229-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-009-0229-8