Evaluation Issues in Mental Health Programming in the Juvenile Justice System

• NCJ Number: 205795
• Author(s): Ron Prinz Ph.D.; Mary E. Poulin M.A.
• Date Published: August 2003
• Length: 55 pages
• Grant Number(s): 98-RN-FX-0112
• Sponsoring Agency: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
• Corporate Author: Juvenile Justice Evaluation Ctr
• Sale Source: Juvenile Justice Evaluation Ctr
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Juvenile Justice Evaluation Center Guidebook Series.

Annotation

This guidebook is the first in a series and discusses evaluation issues in mental health programming in the juvenile justice system.

Abstract

Research shows that youth involved with the juvenile justice system have higher rates of mental health problems and psychological disorders than youth in the general population. The mental health problems and treatment for these young people are a serious and growing concern for the juvenile justice system. This guidebook is for use by juvenile justice program administrators or State-level juvenile justice personnel with an interest in the evaluation of mental health programs that serve a juvenile justice population or juvenile justice programs with mental health components. It is divided into five sections that provide information on: 1) using information about mental health problems in the development of programs for youths in the juvenile justice system and building evaluation into the program design; 2) designing evaluations of mental health interventions or mental health elements in other juvenile justice interventions; 3) special considerations of confidentiality and protection of human subjects; 4) ethical considerations in conduction evaluations of mental health programming in juvenile justice; 5) systemic issues, such as sustainability, funding sources, schools, and employability; 6) delinquency risk and protective factors; 7) implementation issues, such as data collection and fidelity to the model; and 8) utilization of evaluation results. In addition, references will be made throughout this document to the following seven-step evaluation process developed by the Juvenile Justice Evaluation Center (JJEC): 1) define the problem; 2) implement evidence-based programming; 3) develop program logic; 4) identify measures; 5) collect and analyze data; 6) report findings; and 7) reassess program logic. Thus, evaluation of mental health programming in the juvenile justice system is discussed within the context of the steps of this process throughout the guidebook. Resources, endnotes, and selected bibliography