Mental Health Systems and Juvenile Justice Outcomes

描述（由申请人提供）：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人的近期和长期职业目标。在短期内，这将使她能够发展进行纵向研究的技能，利用大型二手数据集处理心理健康与少年司法系统之间的关系。从长远来看，这将帮助她发展关于精神卫生保健和青少年司法系统行为的理论模型和实证测试，他们之间关系的动态，以及他们对政策变化的反应。拟议的培训和研究计划旨在满足三个职业发展需求：1)建立与青少年情绪障碍有关的少年司法系统知识库；2)培养纵向数据分析的统计技能；3)培养负责任的研究行为和科学传播。这项培训将促进申请人在精神卫生和少年司法系统的研究中追求创新、全面和技术上有效的方法。研究计划分为三个独立的研究，这些研究将补充拟议的培训活动序列，并为申请人提供使用各种数据集进行动态建模的研究经验。拟议研究的具体目的是：1)使用两种不同的方法估计主要卫生政策变化（包括医疗补助资格和心理健康管理护理）对青少年犯罪结果的影响；2)评估主要政策变化和关键组织结构对少年司法系统退出青少年心理健康服务连续性的影响；3)评估青少年司法系统中青少年心理健康转移项目对犯罪结果的影响。

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.