OPERATIONS CORE (Director: Dr. Nancy Wolff)Core Roadmap: The Operations Core provides a broad overview of the Center for Behavioral HealthServices & Criminal Justice Research (referred to as the 'Center') with these sections: introduction(Section A); significance of research and philosophy (Section B); progress and transition plan to an advancedcenter (Section C); administration structure (Section D); and brief summaries of the Cores (Section E).A. INTRODUCTIONRoughly one in two inmates in prisons and jails is estimated to have a mental health (MH) problem.1'' Over thepast decade, advocates and professional associations have lobbied for the expansion of MH services toprevent incarceration, provide appropriate treatment for those who are incarcerated, and develop reentrystrategies for those leaving jails and prisons.3'6 In response, federal and state legislation, as well as courtrulings, have changed legal structures in ways that advance the development of alternative criminal processingoptions,7 such as jail diversion8'9 and MH courts,10'12 as well as treatment capabilities within jails andprisons.1313a But, tough on crime legislation has advanced over the past 20 years making it more difficult to getout and stay out of the criminal justice (CJ) system, especially for people convicted of drug-related crimes. It isestimated that over 50% of people with mental illness (PMI) in jail or prison were under the influence of illegaldrugs or alcohol at the time of their offense.1 These individuals are also more likely to reside in areas ofconcentrated social disadvantage1415 and when released from prison or jail are likely to return to the poorest,most problematic communities. Poverty and substance use (SU) problems (SUP) and disorders (SUD)'complicate efforts to treat mental illness in the community and in the CJ system. The social context of mentalillness and its overlap with SU are part of the reason for criminal behavior. To date, the efforts to remove PMIfrom jails and prisons have focused on treatment, primarily MH treatment, even while untreated SUP/D is likelyto make both conditions worse. While the research community has struggled to inform removal policies withrigorous and relevant MH services research, most of the major policy developments in MH and CJ haveoccurred with minimal empirical grounding.153 Moreover, the services and intervention research that has beendone often proceeds without learning from criminology and rarely involves active collaborations withcriminologists, addictions researchers, urban sociologists, and community developers/planners.This application requests continued funding for the Center, instituted in 2001 with funding from a DCISIR grant(P20 MH66170) from the NIMH. Since then the Center's infrastructure has been developed under the directionof Drs. Nancy Wolff, Jeffrey Draine, and William Fisher in ways that support the development of acriminologically-informed MH services research and training agenda. The Center focuses exclusively on MHand SU issues that arise when PMI have encounters with the CJ system and does so within an ecological andsocially complex systems framework. Our advanced center proposal is informed by and speaks to methodsand research issues that have been identified as problems over the past five years. They include: lack ofintegrative conceptualization; misapplication of outcome evaluation methods; overemphasis on individualspecificfactors in explanatory models and in designing and studying interventions; and little attention to issuesrelated to gender, SU, and poverty. These issues are addressed in the methods and principal research cores.The Center's primary goal is to advance research that will improve the welfare of PMI in ways that minimize thedisruption in the delivery of treatment and maximize their potential to lead productive and rewarding lives.Towards this end, the underpinning philosophy of our Center is one that builds the capability and capacity toconduct research that achieves this goal. It includes building the capabilities of researchers and theircollaborations with stakeholders. The Center, as a community of practice, endeavors to build the human andsocial capital of researchers and stakeholders and to provide opportunities, through its resources, to buildresearch capacity that advances policy and practice and, in so doing, improves the welfare of PMI and society.
| White, Helene R; Beardslee, Jordan; Pardini, Dustin (2017) Early predictors of maturing out of marijuana use among young men. Addict Behav 65:56-62 |
| Jessell, Lauren; Smith, Vivian; Jemal, Alexis et al. (2016) Using Technology to Facilitate Collaboration in Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR). J Technol Hum Serv 34:241-255 |
| Wood, Jennifer D; Taylor, Caitlin J; Groff, Elizabeth R et al. (2015) Aligning policing and public health promotion: Insights from the world of foot patrol. Police Pract Res 16:211-223 |
| White, Helene R; Bechtold, Jordan; Loeber, Rolf et al. (2015) Divergent marijuana trajectories among men: Socioeconomic, relationship, and life satisfaction outcomes in the mid-30s. Drug Alcohol Depend 156:62-69 |
| Smith, Vivian C; Jemal, Alexis (2015) Addressing the Health of Formerly Imprisoned Persons in a Distressed Neighborhood Through a Community Collaborative Board. Health Promot Pract 16:733-44 |
| Windsor, Liliane Cambraia; Jemal, Alexis; Benoit, Ellen (2014) Community Wise: paving the way for empowerment in community reentry. Int J Law Psychiatry 37:501-11 |
| Watson, Amy C; Swartz, James; Bohrman, Casey et al. (2014) Understanding how police officers think about mental/emotional disturbance calls. Int J Law Psychiatry 37:351-8 |
| Epperson, Matthew W; Wolff, Nancy; Morgan, Robert D et al. (2014) Envisioning the next generation of behavioral health and criminal justice interventions. Int J Law Psychiatry 37:427-38 |
| Angell, Beth; Matthews, Elizabeth; Barrenger, Stacey et al. (2014) Engagement processes in model programs for community reentry from prison for people with serious mental illness. Int J Law Psychiatry 37:490-500 |
| Windsor, Liliane Cambraia; Jessell, Lauren; Lassiter, Teri et al. (2014) Community Wise: A formative evaluation of a community based health intervention. Int Public Health J 37:501-511 |
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