Modified Therapeutic Community Treatment for Offenders with Co-Occurring Disorders: Mental Health Outcomes

• NCJ Number: 221703
• Journal: Journal of Offender Rehabilitation Volume: 45 Issue: 1/2 Dated: 2007 Pages: 227-247
• Author(s): Christopher J. Sullivan; Stanley Sacks; Karen Mckendrick; Steven Banks; Joann Y. Sacks; Joseph Stommel
• Date Published: 2007
• Length: 21 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper examines outcomes 12 months post-prison release for offenders with co-occurring disorders randomly assigned to either a mental health control treatment (C) or a modified therapeutic community (MTC) (E), designed specifically for both substance use and mental disorders.

Abstract

No significant differences were detected between the modified therapeutic community (MTC) or E group and mental health treatment or C group. Both groups showed significant improvements on some symptom measures. The analyses did not confirm the hypothesis that the modified therapeutic community (MTC) or E group would result in better mental health outcomes. Significant improvements were noted for both E and C groups, suggesting that the treatment conditions were equally effective in producing significant change in mental health symptoms. However, reductions in criminal behavior were associated more with substance use than improvements in mental health symptoms, supporting the primacy of substance abuse treatment in affecting recidivism. Further research is recommended to describe the relationship among diagnostic subgroups, as well as change in substance use and in mental health symptoms. The MTC was designed specifically to address both substance use and mental disorders and contains interventions, such as psychoeducational classes and dual recovery mutual self-help groups that consider and attend to both disorders. Two previous studies reported that compared to a randomly assigned mental health treatment group (C) MTC or E group resulted in significantly better outcomes on measures of crime and substance abuse for offenders with co-occurring substance use and mental disorders, 12 months post-prison release. This paper, utilizing study data from the two previous reports, examines the effectiveness of MTC treatment on mental health measures. In addition, it takes advantage of the opportunity afforded by available study data to report on change in mental health measures for the combined groups and examines the relationship between mental health symptom change, substance abuse change, and criminal activity/recidivism. Tables, references