Influence of Organizational Characteristics on Success in Implementing Process Improvement Goals in Correctional Treatment Settings

A mixed methods evaluation of family-driven care implementation in juvenile justice agencies in Georgia

BACKGROUND

Improving family engagement in juvenile justice (JJ) system behavioral health services is a high priority for JJ systems, reform organizations, and family advocacy groups across the United States. Family-driven care (FDC) is a family engagement framework used by youth-serving systems to elevate family voice and decision-making power at all levels of the organization. Key domains of a family-driven system of care include: 1) identifying and involving families in all processes, 2) informing families with accurate, understandable, and transparent information, 3) collaborating with families to make decisions and plan treatments, 4) responding to family diversity and inclusion, 5) partnering with families to make organizational decisions and policy changes, 6) providing opportunities for family peer support, 7) providing logistical support to help families overcome barriers to participation, and 8) addressing family health and functioning. FDC enhances family participation, empowerment, and decision-making power in youth services; ultimately, improving youth and family behavioral health outcomes, enhancing family-child connectedness, and reducing youth recidivism in the JJ setting.

METHODS

We evaluated staff-perceived adoption of the eight domains of FDC across detention and community services agencies in the state of Georgia. We collected mixed methods data involving surveys and in-depth qualitative interviews with JJ system administrators, staff, and practitioners between November 2021- July 2022. In total, 140 individuals from 61 unique JJ agencies participated in surveys; and 16 JJ key informants participated in qualitative interviews.

RESULTS

FDC domains with the highest perceived adoption across agencies included identifying and involving families, informing families, collaborative decision-making and treatment planning, and family diversity and inclusion. Other domains that had mixed or lower perceived adoption included involving families in organizational feedback and policy making, family peer support, logistical support, and family health and functioning. Adoption of FDC domains differed across staff and organizational characteristics.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings from this mixed methods assessment will inform strategic planning for the scale-up of FDC strategies across JJ agencies in the state, and serve as a template for assessing strengths and weaknesses in the application of family engagement practices in systems nationally.

The application of implementation science methods in correctional health intervention research: a systematic review

BACKGROUND

Improving access to high-quality healthcare for individuals in correctional settings is critical to advancing health equity in the United States. Compared to the general population, criminal-legal involved individuals experience higher rates of chronic health conditions and poorer health outcomes. Implementation science frameworks and strategies offer useful tools to integrate health interventions into criminal-legal settings and to improve care. A review of implementation science in criminal-legal settings to date is necessary to advance future applications. This systematic review summarizes research that has harnessed implementation science to promote the uptake of effective health interventions in adult criminal-legal settings.

METHODS

A systematic review of seven databases (Academic Search Premier, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, PsycINFO, Social Work Abstracts, ProQuest Criminal Justice Database, ProQuest Sociological Abstracts, MEDLINE/PubMed) was conducted. Eligible studies used an implementation science framework to assess implementation outcomes, determinants, and/or implementation strategies in adult criminal-legal settings. Qualitative synthesis was used to extract and summarize settings, study designs, sample characteristics, methods, and application of implementation science methods. Implementation strategies were further analyzed using the Pragmatic Implementation Reporting Tool.

RESULTS

Twenty-four studies met inclusion criteria. Studies implemented interventions to address infectious diseases (n=9), substance use (n=6), mental health (n=5), co-occurring substance use and mental health (n=2), or other health conditions (n=2). Studies varied in their operationalization and description of guiding implementation frameworks/taxonomies. Sixteen studies reported implementation determinants and 12 studies measured implementation outcomes, with acceptability (n=5), feasibility (n=3), and reach (n=2) commonly assessed. Six studies tested implementation strategies. Systematic review results were used to generate recommendations for improving implementation success in criminal-legal contexts.

CONCLUSIONS

The focus on implementation determinants in correctional health studies reflects the need to tailor implementation efforts to complex organizational and inter-agency contexts. Future studies should investigate policy factors that influence implementation success, design, and test implementation strategies tailored to determinants, and investigate a wider array of implementation outcomes relevant to criminal-legal settings, health interventions relevant to adult and juvenile populations, and health equity outcomes.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

A study protocol (CRD42020114111) was registered with Prospero.

Feedback on audit and action planning for dental caries control: a qualitative study to investigate the acceptability among interdisciplinary pediatric dental care teams

Introduction

American Indian and Alaska Native children suffer from the poorest oral health of all populational groups in the United States. Evidence-based practices (EBP) for caries control are well established, but systematically implementing such practices have proven difficult. Audit and feedback with goal setting, and action planning to implement these EBPs have not been tested or adapted for Alaska Native healthcare settings. The aim of this study was to investigate acceptability and perceived feasibility of an audit and feedback intervention for pediatric dental caries control among dental providers and patient stakeholders.

Methods

The pilot program was implemented in two dental clinics from a tribal healthcare consortium in Alaska. Key-informant interviews were conducted to investigate the contextual, organizational, and behavioral facilitators and barriers to the implementation and expansion of the program. Interview transcripts were analyzed by two researchers using thematic analysis.

Results

Eight key informants were interviewed twice (during and after the intervention period), and one once, for a total of 17 interviews. Patient stakeholders were not interviewed due to COVID-19 pandemic clinic closures and social isolation mandates. Three principal themes emerged: a positive organizational climate and culture fostered the acceptability of the program, the positive impacts of the program observed in the pediatric dental teams and the organization, and the challenges to implement the program including understanding the data reports, trusting the accuracy of the data, and competing priorities.

Conclusions

The intervention of audit and feedback with goal setting and action planning was well accepted and perceived as feasible by the study participants given the financial and human resources provided by the research project. This qualitative study can inform the design and evaluation of process-oriented implementation strategies geared towards decreasing health inequities and improving health outcomes, such as dental caries in American Indian and Alaska Native children and adolescents.

Implementation Strategy Fidelity and Organizational Outcomes in a Randomized Trial: Implications for Reentry from Corrections to Community Treatment

Background: This study examined fidelity of implementation strategies used in an organizational process improvement intervention (OPII) designed to improve evidence-based practices related to assessments for drug-involved clients exiting incarceration. Leadership was studied as a moderating factor between fidelity and outcomes. Methods: A mixed-method cluster randomized design was used to randomize 21 sites to early- or delayed-start within 9 research centers. Parent study protocol was reviewed to develop fidelity constructs (i.e., responsiveness, dose, quality, adherence). Outcomes were site-level success in achieving goals and objectives completed during the OPII (e.g., percent goals achieved). Correlations, analyses of covariance, regressions and moderation analyses were performed. Qualitative interviews assessed facilitators/barriers to implementation. Results: Fidelity constructs related to outcomes. No differences were found in fidelity by early or delayed condition. At low levels of leadership, high staff responsiveness (i.e., engagement in the OPII) related to poorer outcome. Conclusions: It is important to consider contextual factors (e.g., leadership) that may influence implementation strategy fidelity when deploying evidence-based practices. Findings are relevant to researchers, clinicians, administrators and policy makers, and suggest that goal completion during implementation of evidence-based practices requires monitoring of leadership competence, fidelity to implementation strategies (i.e., staff responsiveness to strategies) and attendance to goal importance.

Providing substance use disorder treatment in correctional settings: knowledge gaps and proposed research priorities-overview and commentary

This manuscript is the product of the authors' discussions, literature overview, and consultation with experts in the field, and identifies important gaps in the evidence base for substance use disorder (SUD) treatment effectiveness within criminal justice (CJ) settings. Lacking from the extant literature are longitudinal investigations of treatment related outcomes during and after incarceration. Such studies could provide rich contextual data about treatment delivery and effectiveness across the CJ continuum, and would provide important insight into individual characteristics (e.g., motivation, treatment modality preferences, treatment completion rates, etc.) as well as institutional and environmental factors (e.g., appropriate staffing, space limitations for individual treatment sessions, distribution of medications, etc.). We also identified the importance of reproducibility within CJ research, and the unfortunate reality of too many single studies conducted in single (or relatively few) correctional facilities. Some of this has been because the studies designed to produce that evidence are not prioritized for funding, which has continually placed researchers in a position where we cannot make firm conclusions or recommendations based on available evidence. The importance of replicating the foundational studies in this field cannot be overstated. We hope this article spurs other researchers to join in the healthy process of questioning the existing state of the CJ-based SUD treatment research, what should be re-examined, and how we can lay a stronger foundation for the future.

Recidivism Treatment for Justice-Involved Veterans: Evaluating Adoption and Sustainment of Moral Reconation Therapy in the US Veterans Health Administration

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.

Improving Substance Use Services for Juvenile Justice-Involved Youth: Complexity of Process Improvement Plans in a Large Scale Multi-site Study

Despite the high prevalence of substance use disorders among juvenile offenders, most do not receive services. System-level process improvement plans to address unmet service needs can be optimized by combining data-driven decisions and facilitated meetings with behavioral health stakeholders. This paper operationalizes and analyzes the level of specified complexity among process improvement plans evident within 36 juvenile probation and drug courts across 7 states. To inform more effective implementation strategies, this analysis identifies and prioritizes promising courses of agency enhancement toward addressing unmet substance use needs.

How metaphorical framings build and undermine resilience during change: A longitudinal study of metaphors in team-driven planned organizational change

Change is a constant feature of organizing and one that requires resilience, or the ability to effectively face challenges. Although research demonstrates important findings about resilience during chaotic change like crises, less is known about resilience in mundane situations like planned change. This study explores team-driven planned organizational change, offering insights about how team members metaphorically frame change how their framing fluctuates over time relative to perceptions of team success. Our three theoretical contributions extend theory about metaphors and organizational change, showing how negative framings of change are endemic to teams, regardless of perceived success; generate knowledge about resilience in organizing by showing how metaphors both build and undermine resilience; and extend applied theory about stakeholder participation in bureaucratic organizations.

Overcoming Barriers to Adopting and Implementing Pharmacotherapy: the Medication Research Partnership

Pharmacotherapy includes a growing number of clinically effective medications for substance use disorder, yet there are significant barriers to its adoption and implementation in routine clinical practice. The Medication Research Partnership (MRP) was a successful effort to promote adoption of pharmacotherapy for opioid and alcohol use disorders in nine substance abuse treatment centers and a commercial health plan. This qualitative analysis of interviews (n = 39) conducted with change leaders at baseline and at the end/beginning of 6-month change cycles explains how treatment centers overcame obstacles to the adoption, implementation, and sustainability of pharmacotherapy. Results show that barriers to adopting, implementing, and sustaining pharmacotherapy can be overcome through incremental testing of organizational change strategies, accompanied by expert coaching and a learning community of like-minded professionals. The greatest challenges lie in overcoming abstinence-only philosophies, establishing a business case for pharmacotherapy, and working with payers and pharmaceutical representatives.