The UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs (ISAP), in collaboration with CiviGenics, Inc. and the Washington State Department of Corrections, is proposing a 4-year health services study that will seek to (1) test the impact of a behavioral reinforcement intervention on inmate engagement in prison-based substance abuse treatment (thereby improving both psychosocial functioning over the course of treatment and post-release outcomes [e.g., decreased drug use, reincarceration]), and (2) assess the process by which this evidence-based innovation is implemented and sustained within prison-based treatment programs. Male and female inmates (240) enrolled in 12-week prison-based intensive outpatient (IOP) treatment will be randomly assigned to one of two programs (conditions): Behavioral Reinforcement (BR) (experimental) and Standard Treatment (ST) (comparison). Inmates assigned to the BR programs will receive behavioral reinforcement contingent upon their attendance at and participation in regularly scheduled program activities and completion of assigned treatment-related tasks. Inmates assigned to the ST programs will receive standard IOP treatment services. The study will also assess the implementation of the behavioral reinforcement intervention within the treatment programs, measure organizational readiness for change both prior to the intervention and after it is completed, and determine if the intervention is sustained following completion of the study. The study has the following primary aims: (1) Increase client engagement in prison-based substance abuse treatment and improve client's psychosocial functioning over the course of treatment using behavioral reinforcement; (2) Assess the impact of behavioral reinforcement on prison-based treatment, participants' entrance into and retention in community-based treatment following release from prison, post-incarceration illicit drug use, and 9-month return-to-custody rates; and (3) Assess possible differential effects of the behavioral reinforcement intervention on a male and a female prison based substance abuse treatment population. The study has the following secondary aims: (4) Qualitatively assess the process by which this evidence-based innovation (behavioral reinforcement) is implemented within a prison-based treatment program; (5) Quantitatively assess organizational readiness for change on the part of the treatment organization and the larger institutional organization prior to the introduction of the behavioral reinforcement intervention and after the intervention is complete; and (6) Determine whether or not the behavioral reinforcement intervention is sustained as a normal part of the in-prison treatment curriculum following the end of the research study. ? ? ? ? ? ?
| Burdon, William M; St De Lore, Jef; Dang, Jeff et al. (2013) Psychosocial Functioning Among Inmates in Prison-Based Drug Treatment: Results from Project BRITE. J Exp Criminol 9:45-64 |
| Burdon, William M; St De Lore, Jef; Prendergast, Michael L (2011) Developing and implementing a positive behavioral reinforcement intervention in prison-based drug treatment: Project BRITE. J Psychoactive Drugs Suppl 7:40-50 |
