Juvenile Justice Translational Research on Interventions for Adolescents in the Legal System

Chestnut Health Systems839 enrolled

Overview

This is a multi site experiment to evaluate the impact of various strategies for increasing the use of evidence based screening, assessment and linkage to substance use treatment. All sites collect baseline data and receive a core intervention. Half are then randomly assigned to get an additional year of coaching to facilitate implementation.

Background: The Juvenile Justice-Translational Research on Interventions for Adolescents in the Legal System (JJ-TRIALS) study is a cooperative implementation science initiative involving the National Institute on Drug Abuse, six Research Centers, a Coordinating Center, and Juvenile Justice Partners representing seven U.S. states. The pooling of resources across Centers enables a robust implementation study design involving 36 juvenile justice agencies and their behavioral health partner agencies, coproducing a study protocol that has potential to advance implementation science, meets the needs of all constituencies (funding agency, researchers, partners, study sites), and can be implemented with fidelity across the cooperative can be challenging. Methods/design: The JJ-TRIALS primary study uses a head-to-head cluster randomized trial with a phased rollout to evaluate the differential effectiveness of two conditions (Core and Enhanced) in 36 sites located in 7 states. Core strategies for promoting change are compared to an Enhanced strategy that incorporate all core strategies plus active facilitation. Target outcomes include improvements in evidence-based screening, assessment, and linkage to substance use treatment. Primary Research Questions: 1. Does the Core and/or Enhanced Intervention reduce unmet need by increasing Cascade retention related to screening, assessment, treatment initiation, engagement and continuing care? 2. Does the addition of the Enhanced Intervention components further increase the percentage of youth retained in the Cascade relative to the Core components? 3. Does the addition of the Enhanced Intervention components improve service quality relative to Core sites? 4. Do staff perceptions of the value of best practices increase over time, and are increases more pronounced in Enhanced sites?

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

TRIPLE

Enrollment

839

Conditions

Substance Use Disorders

Interventions

CoreBEHAVIORAL

EnhancedBEHAVIORAL

Eligibility

Sex: ALL

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Specific site inclusion criteria include: (a) ability to provide youth service records, (b) service to youth under community supervision, (c) access to treatment provider(s) if treatment is not provided directly by the JJ agency, (d) participation in requisite intervention training/activities,(e) minimum average case flow of 10 youth per month, (f) minimum of 10 staff per site, and (g) a senior JJ staff member who agrees to serve as site leader/liaison during the study. Study sites are geographically dispersed and were identified by state JJ agencies (and not selected for particular substance use or related BH service needs). Youth inclusion criteria include: all youth entering the juvenile justice system during the period within the exception of those who are already in treatment at the time that they are referred to the juvenile justice agency. Staff inclusion criteria include: all staff actively working with the youth under community supervision in the site with exclusion only of higher level administrative or regional staff over multiple units..

Locations (8)

Emory University

Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Chestnut Health Systems

Bloomington, Illinois, United States

University of Kentucky

Lexington, Kentucky, United States

National Institute on Drug Abuse

Rockville, Maryland, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Service Cascade: % Referred to Substance Use Treatment

Calculated from juvenile justice and substance use treatment agency records as the number of youth referred to substance use treatment divided by the number of youth identified as need of substance use treatment.

Time frame: 120 weeks

Staff Perception: Value of Evidenced Based Substance Use Treatment

Calculated from staff surveys at juvenile justice and substance use treatment agencies as the average staff ranking of the perceived "value" of using of evidence-based substance use treatment services.

Time frame: 120 weeks

Secondary Outcomes

Service Cascade: % Screened for Substance Use Problems

Calculated from juvenile justice and substance use treatment agency records as the number of youth "Screened" for substance use problems divided by the number of youth entering the juvenile justice system.

Time frame: 120 weeks

Service Cascade: % Clinically Assessed for Substance Use Problems

Calculated from juvenile justice and substance use treatment agency records as the number of youth "Clinically Assessed" for substance use problems divided by the number of youth entering the juvenile justice system.

Time frame: 120 weeks

Service Cascade: % In Need of Substance Use Treatment

Calculated from juvenile justice and substance use treatment agency records as the number of youth identified (via screening, clinical assessment or other sources) as "In Need of Substance Use Treatment" divided by the number of youth entering the juvenile justice system.

Time frame: 120 weeks

Service Cascade: % Initiating Substance Use Treatment

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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