Jail-Based Treatment to Reduce Substance Abuse, Recidivism and Risky Behavior

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project is designed to (a) evaluate the degree to which moral emotions (i.e., shame, guilt and empathy) and moral cognitions (i.e., criminogenic beliefs, moral reasoning) of incarcerated offenders predict post- release substance abuse relapse, HIV risk behavior, and criminal recidivism; (b) evaluate the degree to which such moral emotions and cognitions may serve as "mechanisms of action," explaining the means by which existing jail programs and services have an impact on these critical outcomes; and (c) develop and test more efficacious interventions targeting these mechanisms of action (moral emotions and cognitions) to further to reduce substance abuse relapse, HIV risk behavior, and criminal recidivism. To accomplish these aims, funding is requested to support continuation of an ongoing prospective study of 450 serious offenders entering a county jail (Study 1), focusing on follow-up assessments at 1 and 3 years post release. In addition, funding is requested to implement a new streamlined prospective study of serious offenders as the context for developing and evaluating new treatment strategies (Study 2). Study 2 has three distinct aims. First, based on promising results from the initial phases of Study 1, Study 2 will include a Stage II Randomized Clinical Trial of the Impact of Crime (IOC) workshop, a structured 12 session program based on principles of restorative justice and social-personality theory and research on moral emotions and cognitions. Second, Study 2 will include a Stage la treatment development component to design a short-term intervention for reducing maladaptive feelings of shame and enhancing an adaptive guilt-prone moral emotional style. Third, Study 2 offers an opportunity to replicate and extend key findings from Study 1 regarding how best to enhance offenders' emotional, social, and behavioral adjustment both during incarceration and post-release. In particular, Study 2 will include an expanded assessment of HIV risk behaviors (e.g., more specific patterns of sharing needles and "works" that may explain notably high rates of HIV infection among female offenders) and an expanded assessment of motivations for and perceived benefits of substance use. Together, results should help clarify how best to deliver treatment to offenders with the goal of reducing the rates of substance abuse, HIV infection, and crime in our community.