Motivations for non-medical prescription drug use: a mixed methods analysis.

The effects of perceived coercion and motivation on treatment completion and subsequent re-arrest were examined in a sample of substance-abusing offenders assessed for California’s Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act (SACPA) program. Perceived coercion was measured with the McArthur Perceived Coercion Scale; motivation was measured with the subscales of the Stages of Change Readiness and Treatment Eagerness Scale (SOCRATES). At treatment entry, clients were more likely to believe that they had exercised their choice in entering treatment than that they had been coerced into treatment. SACPA clients scored relatively low on Recognition and Ambivalence regarding their drug use but relatively high on Taking Steps to address their drug problem. Correlations between perceived coercion and motivation measures at treatment entry indicated that these are separate constructs. In logistic regression models, the Recognition subscale of the SOCRATES significantly predicted “any re-arrest,” and Ambivalence and Taking Steps predicted “any drug arrest.”

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Influence of Perceived Coercion and Motivation on Treatment Completion and Re-Arrest among Substance-Abusing Offenders

From Risk Assessment to Risk Management: Matching Interventions to Adolescent Offenders' Strengths and Vulnerabilities.

Despite improvements in interventions for children with autism, assessments tend to focus on their social, cognitive, and behavioral deficits, without similar systematic examination of their strengths. Strength-based assessment (SBA), which has been used in work with children with milder behavioral disorders, may also have value for individuals who have autism. Although not supplanting usual assessment procedures, SBA provides a method for identifying personal, familial, and broader contextual strengths. Research outside the area of autism has found that SBA can be a useful addition to assessment protocols because it provides specific information on assets that can be incorporated into interventions. Further, SBA has the potential to affect the attitudes and beliefs of parents and educators involved in the assessment, creating greater hope about the ability of the child to function well and contributing to a stronger bond between the assessor, the child, and their family. This article describes ways in wh...

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Strength-Based Assessment for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders:

Developing community-based options for drug abusing women is important for a variety of reasons. One option that shows promise is the treatment-oriented drug court. Although drug courts enjoy considerable empirical support, relatively few studies have examined the efficacy of this model for women. The current study uses a quasi-experimental design to compare outcomes between a sample of moderate to high-risk drug court participants (n=91) and probationers (n=80). Over the course of an average two year follow-up period, female drug court participants were found to have significantly lower rates of recidivism than their probation counterparts. The results of an event history analysis confirmed that drug court participants were significantly less likely to recidivate even after controlling for differences in length of follow-up. These findings provide support for the ability of drug court programs to successfully treat drug-involved women.

Drug Abusing Women in the Community: The Impact of Drug Court Involvement on Recidivism:

This study addresses the effects of motivation and problem severity on outcomes in two court-baseddrug treatment programs. Data were examined for 578 offenders served by a drug court and223served by a drug treatment court mandated through California's Substance Abuse Crime Prevention Act (SACPA). It was hypothesized that client-reported motivation would be associated with severity of drug problems and that motivation would be positively associated, and severity negatively associated, with program completion and 12-month, postdischarge recidivism. The first hypothesis was supported— motivation for treatment, measured by client-reported need for treatment and acknowledgementof problemseverity, was associatedwith severity of druguse. Program completion in drug court was predicted by client motivation and prior jail time, whereas SACPA completion was predicted by severity of drug problems and prior employment. Recidivism was associated with program completion and problem severity but not treatment motivation ...

Effects of Motivation and Problem Severity on Court-Based Drug Treatment

Strength-based assessments were designed to assess more completely the outcomes for youth having academic and behavioral problems in the schools. This approach has gained appeal among those working with adolescents who have serious behavior problems, such as those involved in drug use and related delinquent behavior. Traditional assessment procedures provide an overwhelmingly negative picture of these youths and the delineation of these deficits do not contribute to effective treatment planning. This paper describes the use of two strength-based assessment procedures with adolescents who have serious drug problems. The adolescents in this study were participants in a drug treatment court, part of a growing national trend to serve adolescents with non-violent, drug-related problems in their least restrictive environment, allowing them to remain at home and to attend their neighborhood schools. Different methods of using strength-based assessments are examined. In Study 1, assessments are used to identify students’ competencies and determine which of these factors were related to youth outcomes. In Study 2, a case study is presented in which strength-based assessments are used at the individual level to develop specific treatment plans. The current state of the field, and future challenges for effective utilization of the strength-based approach to assessment and intervention, are discussed.

Sivan Barazani

Papers

Effects of Motivation and Problem Severity on Court-Based Drug Treatment

Strength-Based Assessment of Adolescents Who Abuse Drugs: Implications for Helping High-Risk Youth