Recidivism Treatment for Justice-Involved Veterans: Evaluating Adoption and Sustainment of Moral Reconation Therapy in the US Veterans Health Administration
Authors
Blonigen, Daniel M.Shaffer, Paige M.
Smith, Jennifer S.
Cucciare, Michael A.
Timko, Christine
Smelson, David A.
Blue-Howells, Jessica
Clark, Sean
Rosenthal, Joel
UMass Chan Affiliations
Department of PsychiatryDocument Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2021-01-30Keywords
AdoptionCriminal recidivism
Justice-involved veterans
Moral reconation therapy
Sustainment
Veterans health administration
Criminology and Criminal Justice
Health Policy
Mental and Social Health
Military and Veterans Studies
Psychiatry and Psychology
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Show full item recordAbstract
Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT), an evidence-based intervention to reduce risk for criminal recidivism among justice-involved adults, was developed and primarily tested in correctional settings. Therefore, a better understanding of the implementation potential of MRT within non-correctional settings is needed. To address this gap in the literature, we evaluated the adoption and sustainment of MRT in the US Veterans Health Administration (VHA) following a national training initiative in fiscal years 2016 and 2017. In February 2019, surveys with 66 of the 78 VHA facilities that participated in the training were used to estimate the prevalence of MRT adoption and sustainment, and qualitative interviews with key informants from 20 facilities were used to identify factors associated with sustainment of MRT groups. Of the 66 facilities surveyed, the majority reported adopting (n = 52; 79%) and sustaining their MRT group until the time of the survey (n = 38; 58%). MRT sustainment was facilitated by strong intra-facility (e.g., between veterans justice and behavioral health services) and inter-agency collaborations (e.g., between VHA and criminal justice system stakeholders), which provided a reliable referral source to MRT groups, external incentives for patient engagement, and sufficient staffing to maintain groups. Additional facilitators of MRT sustainment were adaptations to the content and delivery of MRT for patients and screening of referrals to the groups. The findings provide guidance to clinics and healthcare systems that are seeking to implement MRT with justice-involved patient populations, and inform development of implementation strategies to be formally tested in future trials.Source
Blonigen DM, Shaffer PM, Smith JS, Cucciare MA, Timko C, Smelson D, Blue-Howells J, Clark S, Rosenthal J. Recidivism Treatment for Justice-Involved Veterans: Evaluating Adoption and Sustainment of Moral Reconation Therapy in the US Veterans Health Administration. Adm Policy Ment Health. 2021 Jan 30:1–14. doi: 10.1007/s10488-021-01113-x. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33515346; PMCID: PMC7847225. Link to article on publisher's site
DOI
10.1007/s10488-021-01113-xPermanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/41735PubMed ID
33515346Related Resources
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© This is a U.S. government work and not under copyright protection in the U.S.; foreign copyright protection may apply 2021ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1007/s10488-021-01113-x
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