Abstract
BackgroundThe Organizational Process Improvement Intervention (OPII), conducted by the NIDA-funded Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies consortium of nine research centers, examined an organizational intervention to improve the processes used in correctional settings to assess substance abusing offenders, develop case plans, transfer this information to community-based treatment agencies, and monitor the services provided by these community based treatment agencies.Methods/DesignA multi-site cluster randomized design was used to evaluate an inter-agency organizational process improvement intervention among dyads of correctional agencies and community based treatment agencies. Linked correctional and community based agencies were clustered among nine (9) research centers and randomly assigned to an early or delayed intervention condition. Participants included administrators, managers, and line staff from the participating agencies; some participants served on interagency change teams while other participants performed agency tasks related to offender services. A manualized organizational intervention that includes the use of external organizational coaches was applied to create and support interagency change teams that proceeded through a four-step process over a planned intervention period of 12 months. The primary outcome of the process improvement intervention was to improve processes associated with the assessment, case planning, service referral and service provision processes within the linked organizations.DiscussionProviding substance abuse offenders with coordinated treatment and access to community-based services is critical to reducing offender recidivism. Results from this study protocol will provide new and critical information on strategies and processes that improve the assessment and case planning for such offenders as they transition between correctional and community based systems and settings. Further, this study extends current knowledge of and methods for, the study of evidence-based practice adoption and implementation.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/2194-7899-2-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
The Organizational Process Improvement Intervention (OPII), conducted by the NIDA-funded Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies consortium of nine research centers, examined an organizational intervention to improve the processes used in correctional settings to assess substance abusing offenders, develop case plans, transfer this information to community-based treatment agencies, and monitor the services provided by these community based treatment agencies
Results from this study protocol will provide new and critical information on strategies and processes that improve the assessment and case planning for such offenders as they transition between correctional and community based systems and settings
There is some evidence that the assessment and case planning processes used in criminal justice and correctional settings are less than optimal (Taxman, Cropsey et al 2007; Taxman, Perdoni and Harrison 2007; Belenko and Peugh 2005)
Summary
The organizational intervention under study in this paper will extend the use of interagency LCTs and externally facilitated organizational coaching to enhance the shared processes of assessment, case planning, service referral, and treatment provision processes between correctional agencies and community based treatment agencies. The study will provide some of the first evidence of the effectiveness of change teams and facilitated coaching strategies to bring about changes in organizational processes ( assessment and case planning) within correctional systems. Given the local setting context within which these LCTs are formed, the potential for spillover or generalization effects between early start and local start sites is an area for concern For each of these methodological risks and liabilities, we have taken efforts to anticipate and guard against the most egregious risks, and we hope, in the process, to make significant contribution to the study of organizational improvement and implementation in general and within the unique context of correctional settings in particular.
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