NCJ Number
219775
Journal
Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions Volume: 7 Issue: 1/2 Dated: 2007 Pages: 51-67
Date Published
2007
Length
17 pages
Annotation
For a sample of 198 female jail detainees in a mid-sized, midwestern city, this study used DSM-IV criteria to describe both lifetime and current diagnoses for substance-use disorders, major depressive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder.
Abstract
Study results show a need to provide integrated mental health and substance-abuse treatment programming for female jail detainees. High levels of both lifetime and current diagnoses of major depressive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder were evident. Over 75 percent of the sample met criteria for at least one of the three mental disorders during the past year. The high level of rape reported by the sample may be one explanatory factor for the levels of PTSD in the sample. Sixty percent of the sample met criteria for current cocaine dependence. Polydrug use was the pattern for both lifetime and current dependencies. A jail setting provides a venue for social service providers to develop or continue a therapeutic relationship with women while they are detained. An in-jail service delivery strategy can be designed to facilitate the continuity of these therapeutic relationships when women return to the community. Programs that offer both in-jail services and community followup can increase the length of treatment women receive and decrease the rate of relapse and reoffending. The final sample (n=198) for this study was a convenience sample composed from the census of the mental health appointment list and a random selection of women in the general jail population who volunteered for the study. The Diagnostic Interview Schedule for DSM-IV was used to determine mental health disorders and substance-use disorders. 5 tables, 2 figures, and 24 references