? ? This 2-year pilot study will determine the relative effectiveness of a women-focused (WF) treatment program based on relational theory (""""""""Helping Women Recover"""""""": Covington, 1999; 2003) compared to a standard prison therapeutic community (TC) treatment program to promote positive behaviors among women inmates. Covington contends that relational theory provides a useful conceptual basis for planning and implementing appropriate drug abuse treatment services for women offenders, as this model focuses services on women's specific needs and incorporates services that are implemented in a manner that promotes women's psychological growth and helps them to discontinue the cycle of substance abuse and criminal behavior. This curriculum, however, has not been empirically tested. Specifically, 100 women at Valley State Prison for Women in California will be randomly assigned to the WF or TC treatment prison programs. ? ? The specific aims of this study are: ? 1. To pilot test the efficacy of a theoretically based, multi-faceted, WF curriculum to promote positive behaviors among women offenders (i.e., increased self-efficacy and psychological well-being, aftercare participation, and reductions in drug use and recidivism) compared to the impact of a standard prison TC program. ? 2. 2. To qualitatively assess treatment staff and client perceptions' of the elements of the WF program which are intrinsic to the theoretical basis of the curriculum to refine and improve the WF model of treatment for women in prison. ? ? Findings from the proposed pilot study will be used as a platform for the development of a later, larger, and more rigorous study on WF treatment within a prison setting. ? ? ? ? ?
| Saxena, Preeta; Messina, Nena; Grella, Christine E (2014) Who Benefits from Gender Responsive Treatment? Accounting for Abuse History on Longitudinal Outcomes for Women in Prison. Crim Justice Behav 41:417-432 |
| Messina, Nena; Grella, Christine E; Cartier, Jerry et al. (2010) A randomized experimental study of gender-responsive substance abuse treatment for women in prison. J Subst Abuse Treat 38:97-107 |
