Mental Health Systems and Juvenile Justice Outcomes

描述(由申请者提供)：在此指导研究科学家发展奖申请中提出的培训和研究计划旨在促进申请者的短期和长期职业目标。在短期内，它将使她能够发展技能，利用大型二级数据集进行纵向研究，处理心理健康和青少年司法系统之间的关系。从长远来看，它将帮助她开发关于精神卫生保健和青少年司法系统的行为、它们的关系的动态以及它们对政策变化的反应的理论模型和实证测试。拟议的培训和研究方案旨在满足三个职业发展需求：1)建立少年司法系统与患有情绪障碍的青年有关的知识库；2)发展纵向数据分析的统计技能；3)进行负责任的研究和科学交流培训。这项培训将有助于申请者在心理健康和青少年司法系统的研究中寻求创新、全面和技术高效的方法。研究计划分为三项单独的研究，这三项研究将补充拟议的培训活动序列，并利用各种数据集进行动态建模，为申请者提供研究经验。拟议研究的具体目标是：1)使用两种不同的方法，评估重大卫生政策变化，包括医疗补助资格和心理健康管理保健，对青少年犯罪结果的影响；2)估计重大政策变化和关键组织结构对退出少年司法系统的青少年提供心理健康服务的连续性的影响；以及3)估计青少年司法系统中针对青少年的心理健康分流计划对犯罪结果的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The program of training and research proposed in this Mentored Research Scientist Development Award application is designed to further both the applicant's near-term and long-term career goals. In this near term it will allow her to develop skills in conducting longitudinal studies dealing with the relationship between mental health and juvenile justice systems using large, secondary datasets. In the long-term it will help her develop theoretical models and empirical tests about the behavior of mental health care and juvenile justice systems, the dynamics of their relationship, and their responses to policy change. The proposed training and research program is designed to address three career development needs: 1) develop a knowledge base of the juvenile justice system as it relates to youth with emotional disorders; 2) develop statistical skills in longitudinal data analysis; and 3) train in the responsible conduct of research and scientific communication. This training will facilitate the applicant's pursuit of innovative, comprehensive, and technologically efficient approaches in research on mental health and juvenile justice systems. The research plan is divided into three separate studies which will complement the proposed sequence of training activities and provide the applicant research experience with dynamic modeling using a variety of datasets. The specific aims of the proposed studies are 1) to estimate the impact of major health policy changes, including Medicaid eligibility and mental health managed care, on juvenile crime outcomes, using two separate approaches; 2) to estimate the effects of major policy changes and key organizational structures on the continuity of mental health service delivery for youth exiting the juvenile justice system; and 3) to estimate the effects of a mental health diversion program for youth in the juvenile justice system on criminal outcomes.