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311365
An evaluation of Advanced Supervision and Intervention Support Team (ASIST) program for high risk offenders with mental illness
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
: 9:30 AM - 9:50 AM
Hsiu-Ju Lin, Ph.D.
,
School of Social Work, Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, University of Connecticut, Hartford, CT
Eleni Rodis, M.S.
,
School of Social Work, Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, University of Connecticut, Hartford, CT
Linda K. Frisman, PhD
,
School of Social Work, Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, University of Connecticut, Hartford, CT
Joseph Grzelak, PsyD.
,
CT Dept Mental Health & Addiction Services, Hartford, CT
The Advanced Supervision and Intervention Support Team (ASIST) program operates in 7 Connecticut cities. It supports jail diversion for individuals with mental illness who are not usually approved for diversion because of high rates of minor crimes, past failures to appear in court, and/or homelessness. The program pairs increased criminal justice supervision with clinical care and case management. We conducted a quasi-experimental evaluation on 111 ASIST participants, with data collection at baseline, 3 month, and 6 months, as well as clinician ratings and administrative data collection on arrest and incarceration. The preliminary results suggest that participation in the ASIST program improved outcomes on several domains, including employment, living situation, and substance use. In addition to pre-post comparisons, we also applied case-control propensity matching to construct a comparison group, and found that offenders who received ASIST had longer survival time to re-incarceration than propensity matched cases. We will discuss implications for other states’ diversion programming.
Learning Areas:
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Other professions or practice related to public health
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines
Learning Objectives:
Describe the population of defendants with mental illness who require greater supervision in order to be diverted.
Explain how propensity matching can be used to create a post-hoc comparison group, given available administrative data.
Identify areas of improved outcomes for defendants with mental illness who are diverted with the ASIST program.
Keyword(s): Mental Health Treatment &Care, Criminal Justice
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been the co-principal of several federally funded grants focusing on SMI and/or substance abused population with criminal justice system involvement. My research interests include jail diversion, mental health and substance abuse programs, and applying advanced statistical and methodology to evaluation research.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines,
and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed
in my presentation.
