Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #120528

Fred C. Osher, MD, Center for Behavioral Health, Justice, and Public Policy, University of Maryland, 3700 Koppers Street, Suite 402, Baltimore, MD 21227, (410) 646-3511, fosher@psych.umaryland.edu

This presentation will provide an overview of Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) as an evidence-based practice in mental health treatment and the implications for practical application to people with mental illness and/or co-occurring disorders in contact with the justice system. To explore this issue, the author will consider FACTs, ACT for forensic populations and the ways the ACT model has been extended and adapted to serve persons with mental illness in a variety of criminal justice settings, and FICMs--Intensive Case Management (ICM) for forensic populations. FICMs will be discussed as a possibly less comprehensive (and possibly less-expensive) alternative to full-fidelity ACT Teams in criminal justice settings. Two key questions will be discussed: can FICMs substitute for FACTs (i.e., produce equivalent results) and, if there is adequate evidence to support this substitution? The author will conclude with observations from the discussion of these issues at the February 18, 2005 Expert Panel Meeting in Bethesda, MD sponsored by the GAINS EBP Center.

Learning Objectives:

• Advance the understanding of the state of the field for evidence-based and promising practices as related to persons with co-occurring mental and substance use disorders in contact with the criminal justice system; and
• understand the fidelity issues and hurdles faced in program replication when adapting EBPs for programs serving a forensic population

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation