Outcomes of Case Management for African-American Men in Batterer Counseling

Case management for additional referrals has been recommended especially for African-American men in batterer counseling programs. Additional services addressing “at risk” needs may help to improve batterer program outcomes. To test this expectation, a quasi-experimental evaluation of a case management project was conducted for both “intention-to-treat” and “received-treatment.” The case management included brief assessment at batterer program intake, referral to relevant services, and follow-up calls from batterer program staff. Re-assault and re-arrests during a 12-month follow-up, along with program dropout from the 16 required sessions of the batterer program, were compared for 202 African-American program participants under case management and a sample of 482 African-American participants previously in the batterer program. In both bivariate and confirmatory multivariate analyses, neither the case management nor actual service contact significantly improved outcomes. However, the small portion of men contacting drug and alcohol treatment did tend toward better program outcomes. Poor implementation of the case management procedures may have contributed to the overall weak effects.     

The Incidence and Impact of Family Violence on Mental Health Among South Korean Women: Results of a National Survey

This representative national survey examined incidence of husband-to-wife violence in the past year, lifetime exposure to parental violence, and the relationships between victimization experiences of family violence and mental health among South Korean women (N = 1,079). The major findings were that incidence rate of husband-to-wife violence among Korean women was 29.5%, which was much higher than those of other nations, and that their experiences of physical violence by husbands in the last year and lifetime verbal abuse by parents had strong associations with the mental health of victims. The findings suggest that preventive intervention programs for male perpetrators as well as domestic violence victims with mental health problems and comprehensive interventions for Korean couples are urgently needed. In addition, parents should be educated about how to modify their children’s behavior without physical punishment or verbal abuse.

Mental Health Court Outcomes: A Comparison of Re-Arrest and Re-Arrest Severity Between Mental Health Court and Traditional Court Participants

Mental health courts have been proliferating across the country since their establishment in the late 1990's. Although numerous advocates have proclaimed their merit, only few empirical studies have evaluated their outcomes. This paper evaluates the effect of one mental health court on criminal justice outcomes by examining arrests and offense severity from one year before to one year after entry into the court, and by comparing mental health court participants to comparable traditional criminal court defendants on these measures. Multivariate models support the prediction that mental health courts reduce the number of new arrests and the severity of such re-arrests among mentally ill offenders. Similar analysis of mental health court completers and non-completers supports the prediction that a "full dose" of mental health treatment and court monitoring produce even fewer re-arrests.     

Short Term Change in Attitude and Motivating Factors to Change Abusive Behavior of Male Batterers after Participating in a Group Intervention Program Based on the Pro-Feminist and Cognitive-Behavioral Approach

The Domestic Abuse Education Project (DAEP), in Burlington, Middlebury, and St. Albans, Vermont, is a group based domestic abuse intervention program, based in a pro-feminist and cognitive-behavioral approach for domestic violence intervention and prevention. A pre and post-test instrument was developed and implemented to determine short-term change in attitude of participants and motivating factors to change behavior, after completing the twenty-seven session program. After the program, participants reported a positive change in attitudes regarding their abusive behavior and stereotypical beliefs about women. Participants were also more motivated to change their behavior by the effect abuse has on their family relationships. However, many participants continued to agree that insecurity, jealousy, and alcohol and drug use can cause violence. The positive changes in attitude and motivational factors show that this is an effective model in changing underlying batterer attitudes that provide rationale for abusive behavior.     

The Effect of Coercion on Aggression and Mental Health Among Reciprocally Violent Couples

Researchers have not investigated mental health outcomes among couples who are reciprocally violent towards each other. The present study investigated differences in partner violence (psychological, physical, and sexual) and mental health symptoms (depression, anxiety, hostility, and somatic) between two types of reciprocally violent couples: situational couple violence (SCV) and mutual control violence (MVC). SCV couples use violence to address stressful family conflicts, while MVC couples use violence as a tool to control each other. Participants (N = 609) completed surveys that contained several instruments that measured past violence, coercive behaviors, physical injuries, and mental health symptoms. Results revealed that MVC reported significantly higher levels of violent perpetration and worse physical and mental health than SCV. These findings have implications for understanding the role of coercion in partner violence and mental health, which can be used for the development of appropriate mental health services for couples who are mutually violent towards each other.     

Dating Violence Victimization,Relationship Satisfaction,Mental Health Problems,and Acceptability of Violence: A Comparison of Men and Women

Two of the most common reported consequences of dating violence are its impact on the victim’s satisfaction with their romantic relationship and its impact on the victim’s mental health. Recent research suggests that the strength of these relationships may be moderated by the degree to which the dating violence is acceptable to the victim. However, studies of these relationships have been limited to samples of women. The purpose of the present research was to examine the relationships among dating violence victimization, relationship satisfaction, mental health problems, and acceptability of violence for a sample that includes not only female victims, but also male victims. Using a sample of 155 male and 417 female college students, hierarchical regression analyses found that dating violence victimization is associated with relationship satisfaction and mental health problems for both men and women. For men, acceptability of violence moderated the relationship between dating violence victimization and the mental health problems of depression, anxiety, and somatization. For women, acceptability of violence moderated the relationship between dating violence victimization and relationship satisfaction only.

Feedback on Forensic Mental Health Assessments in a Juvenile Court Clinic Certification Program

Public-sector mental health systems have set forth specialized practice competencies for forensic mental health clinicians conducting court-ordered examinations. This study examined a sample of feedback letters to clinicians who submitted mid-training and final reports for review as part of the requirements for certification as a juvenile court clinician. The most common feedback points were insufficient/irrelevant historical data, problems with clarity/organization of the report, problems with interview/mental status examination, and problems with competency to stand trial data/opinions. Clinicians had fewer deficiencies in their final report compared to their mid-training report, supporting the perspective that forensic training and supervision is associated with better quality reports.     

Youth Mental Health First-Aid: Juvenile Justice Staff Training to Assist Youth with Mental Health Concerns

Many youth in juvenile justice settings meet criteria for a mental health condition. Front line staff need to be able to recognize and respond to their needs, but training is often lacking. Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) is an 8-hour training for adults without mental health education to recognize and assist distressed youth. This study surveyed 1,279 [State blinded] DJS front-line staff trained in YMHFA. Of 338 returned surveys (26% response), 44% reported using YMHFA skills at work, 56% in preventing a crisis, 25% during crises. Respondents rated YMHFA as significantly improving their responsiveness to distressed young people.     

Evaluation of a Health Care Provider Training Program to Identify and Help Partner Violence Victims

This study tested four hypotheses about the impact of a 3-h domestic violence training program with 752 health care providers on attitudes and values related to screening and helping partner violence victims. Hypotheses 1, 2, and 3 were that training would be related to: 1) increased self-efficacy to identify and help partner violence victims, 2) increased endorsement of the role of health care providers and settings for helping partner violence victims, and 3) increased comfort making appropriate community referrals to help partner violence victims. Hypothesis 4 was that training effects would be moderated by prior training and by prior experience with helping a victim. Following training, health care providers reported increased self-efficacy, increased comfort making appropriate community referrals, and increased valuation of health care providers and the health care system as having an important role in stopping domestic violence. Hypothesis 4 was also supported. Prior training and/or experience with an abuse victim predicted smaller changes in the dependent variables. These gains held at a 6-month follow-up. Implications for training curriculum design are discussed, in addition to institutional policy implications for determining the benefits versus costs of universal training, including staff who demonstrate prior training or experience with battered victims. Study limitations and future research directions, including the need to measure performance and policy compliance will also be outlined.     

The Acute and Enduring Consequences of Exposure to Violence on Youth Mental Health and Aggression

The bulk of “neighborhood effects” research examines the impact of neighborhood conditions cross-sectionally. However, it is critical to understand whether the effects of neighborhood context are situational and whether they endure over time. In this study, we take seriously the notion that there are enduring consequences of exposure to deleterious neighborhood conditions. Using a rich set of longitudinal data on adolescents from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, we estimate the effect of exposure to violence on both internalizing (depression and anxiety) and externalizing problems (aggression). We find that exposure to violence has both an acute and enduring effect on aggression, yet no effect on anxiety-depression, net of individual, family, peer, and neighborhood influences. Part of the enduring effect of violence exposure is explained by changes in social cognitions brought on by the exposure, yet much of the relationship remains to be explained by other causal mechanisms.     

Effects of Pre-release Services on Access to Behavioral Health Treatment after Release from Prison

Using the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative data-set, substance use and mental health needs of released inmates are examined to explore whether there is a positive relationship between pre-release services and behavioral health treatment access at three months post-release. Two weighted hierarchical linear models were run testing the effects of three key pre-release services: pre-release needs assessment, pre-release linkage with inmates’ post-release case managers, and pre-release assistance with accessing post-release health insurance. Results demonstrate that pre-release needs assessment significantly increases the odds of receiving post-release substance abuse treatment, and case management linkage and assistance with accessing health insurance significantly increase the odds of mental health treatment after release. Policy implications for reentry service provision targeting behavioral health needs, and directions for future research, are discussed.     

Exploring Agreement on Appropriate Responses to Domestic Violence and Sexual Trauma Across Victim Advocates,Mental Health Service Providers,and Substance Abuse Treatment Providers

Abstract

Research suggests that survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault are more at risk than the general population for substance abuse and/or mental health disorders (Kendler et al., 2000). Additionally, research suggests that survivors of both crimes are at risk to be “multiply diagnosed-have” a history of victimization, a mental health diagnosis, and abuse of alcohol and drugs (Steele & Rechberger, 2002). While advocates have called for a change in the treatment of trauma survivors to treat their multiple needs, the availability of collaborative care between victim advocates and behavioral health professionals remains questionable. Using survey data collected from victim advocates, mental health service providers, and substance abuse treatment providers, this study assesses the extent to which providers of different backgrounds agree on how to effectively and appropriately serve domestic violence and sexual assault survivors-the first step in achieving the goal of holistic care.     

Transfers from prison to hospital under Sections 47 and 48 of the Mental Health Act between 2011 and 2014

In England and Wales, prisoners with mental disorder of such severity as to warrant inpatient treatment may be transferred to hospital under the Mental Health Act. UK Government guidance recommends that this process should be completed within 14 days; however, evidence suggests that in many cases it can take much longer. This retrospective service evaluation of 64 male prisoners, who were transferred under Section 47 or Section 48, aimed to evaluate transfer durations. The mean time from referral to admission was 76 days. Prisoners with a psychotic disorder were admitted more quickly. Remand prisoners were admitted more quickly than sentenced prisoners. Findings suggest that, in the UK the transfer time of prisoners under Sections 47 and 48 of the Mental Health Act continues to far exceed the 14-day target which raises concern about equivalence of care for prisoners. Our findings support arguments for fundamental amendments to the admissions process.