Section Director: David S. Festinger, Ph.D.
Selected Projects: Research and Evaluation
Improving the Ethics of Research: Development of the Coercion Assessment Scale: Karen Dugosh, Ph.D. In this NIDA-funded project, a Coercion Assessment Scale (CAS) will be developed and evaluated, responding to the need for an instrument to accurately measure perceptions of coercion among substance abusing criminal justice clients participating in research. Much like consent quizzes and tests of cognitive functioning, the CAS will be useful for identifying individuals who are not appropriate for research participation or who need enhanced consent procedures because of their level of perceived coercion. In this context, the CAS may be particularly useful to research staff, research intermediaries, and ethics review boards. Read Abstract.
The Role of Judicial Status Hearings in Drug Court: Douglas B. Marlowe, J.D., Ph.D. In this groundbreaking study funded by NIDA and CSAT, drug court defendants were randomly assigned to attend court hearings either biweekly or as needed when they encounter problems in the program. Otherwise, all participants received the same treatment, urinalyses, rewards and sanctions. Findings indicated that “high-risk” clients (i.e., antisocial personality disorder [APD] or previous failure in drug abuse treatment) had substantially better outcomes when required to attend more frequent status hearings. In contrast, “low-risk” clients performed equally well, or better, when they were required to only attend hearings as needed. These findings were reproduced in several adult felony and misdemeanor drug courts located in both urban and rural communities, and were further supported in a prospective study in which clients are matched to dosage of judicial status hearings based on their risk status. Read Story.
Services Research on Sanctions and Rewards in Drug Court: Douglas B. Marlowe, J.D., Ph.D. In this study drug court clients are randomly assigned to receive sanctions for infractions, rewards for accomplishments, or both. The study is isolating the operative effects of each by examining participants’ drug and alcohol use, criminal recidivism, and psychosocial functioning monthly during treatment and at six and 12 months post-admission to drug court. Preliminary findings suggest that augmented positive rewards may help clients achieve treatment goals more quickly, and that clients with specific risk factors (i.e., younger, criminal history, psychopathy) achieved better outcomes when assigned to the enhanced rewards conditions.
Effects
of Youth Exposure to Drug-Related Websites: Steven Belenko, Ph.D.
The rate of adolescent web-surfing has exploded in recent years, and there
is evidence that young people are more likely to encounter pro-marijuana
websites than websites presenting anti-marijuana information. Secondary
examination of the dataset for the National Survey of Parents and Youth
may enable comparisons of the characteristics and correlates of youth
who view anti-drug and pro-drug websites, and guide future research about
how internet experiences affect initiation into and desistance from marijuana
use. The study is addressing two exploratory hypotheses: 1) youth who
view anti-drug, pro-drug, and neither type of website will be distinguished
by significant differences in level of risk, peer norms, parental behaviors,
prior drug use, and exposure to other types of media messages, and 2)
exposure to internet drug websites affects initiation of and desistance
from marijuana use.
STI/HIV
Risk, Services, and Drug Use for Young Arrestees; Steven Belenko, Ph.D.
There is a need to further our understanding of drug use and sex risk
behaviors among youth at the “front end” of the juvenile justice
system, to develop new screening methods that identify infections early
in the juvenile justice process, and to provide more effective prevention
and treatment services to a broader segment of this population. This project
is implementing an assessment and urine screening protocol for the Sexually
Transmitted Infections (STI) chlamydia and gonorrhea in the Hillsborough
County (FL) Juvenile Assessment Center (JAC); analyzing relationships
among drug use, sex risk behaviors and STI infection rates; and identifying
STI-related service needs and impediments to expanding STI testing and
treatment services. Data from an Intake Assessment and STI urine tests
will be collected from a sample of 900 eligible delinquent youth consecutively
admitted to the JAC (stratified to yield 450 females). Organizational
data will be drawn from juvenile justice and service provider records,
geocoded data on infections and health service locations, and 40 staff
interviews. Follow-up data on STI treatment and retesting will be collected
from the Hillsborough County Health Department for STI-positive participants.
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