Building Bridges in New Jersey.

Area of Science:

• Criminal Justice
• Substance Abuse Treatment
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Substance-involved offenders require coordinated care across correctional and community settings.
• Linking information across treatment stages is crucial for effective service delivery.
• Existing systems often face interorganizational barriers impacting offender care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate an Organizational Process Improvement Intervention (OPII) within the Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies 2 (CJ-DATS II) protocol.
• To enhance assessment and case planning for drug-involved offenders transitioning from correctional to community treatment.
• To improve service coordination and the continuum of care for this population.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of the CJ-DATS II OPII protocol in New Jersey.
• Utilized a change team model involving correctional and community agency staff collaboration.
• Employed qualitative interviews with agency participants to gather data on the intervention process.

Main Results:

• The OPII facilitated collaboration between correctional and community agencies.
• Qualitative data revealed common themes regarding intervention processes, barriers, and success factors.
• Participants identified strategies to overcome implementation challenges and improve care coordination.

Conclusions:

• Organizational process improvement is feasible and beneficial in correctional settings.
• The intervention demonstrated potential in reducing interorganizational barriers.
• Improvements in the continuum of care for substance-abusing offenders were indicated.