Research Publications

It is generally understood that people with mental illnesses are overrepresented in the US criminal justice system (Prins, 2014; Skeem, Winter, Kennealy, Louden, & Tatar, 2014). However, the prevalence rates among the academic literature and national samples vary. The most recent meta-analysis of the academic literature found a range between 10% and 31% of sampled prisoners suffered from mental illness (Prins, 2014). On the other hand, the most recent Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) reports, among state prisoners, 61% of offenders had mental health issues, and 76% had substance use issues (James & Glaze, 2006). Standardization of sampling methods and methods for determining mental health issue prevalence is needed.

Mental health problems are, unfortunately, a common occurrence among youth who experience maltreatment. This study used an interdisciplinary approach to consider how demographic differences, justice involvement, type of treatment agency involved, and child welfare effectiveness impact mental health. The study analyzed Quality Services Review (QSR) data from 2,110 randomly sampled child welfare cases in a Midwestern state. Multinomial logistic regression was used to predict the likelihood of problem severity based upon agency involvement, team effectiveness, and intervention effectiveness.

An extensive body of work shows that parental monitoring reduces the likelihood of risky behaviors among youth, yet little attention has been given to the factors compelling parents to engage in monitoring behaviors. The current study examines the association between non-familial, adolescent relationships (i.e., school connectedness, community connectedness, and peer relationships) and parental monitoring. The data used come from the Mobile Youth Survey (MYS), and from 2006 and 2011, resulting in a longitudinal sample of 3,287 adolescents.

Concrete services are goods and services, such as rent, utilities, healthcare, or other tangible services, that are purchased directly by child welfare agencies to help support the short-term needs of a family. Practice wisdom in social work details the importance of meeting basic needs in order for clients to be able to concentrate on completing the case plan. Some literature has mentioned the importance of concrete services for child welfare practice. However, research has been limited about utilization of these services and their impact on child welfare outcomes. The current mixed methods study examines expenditures for concrete services across four categories over a four-year period in one Midwestern state. The justifications for caseworker concrete service requests and the perceptions of regional and executive managers regarding the effectiveness of the use of concrete services are also examined.