Attitudes Toward Substance Abuse Treatment Among Probation and Parole Officers

Abstract

Despite the high incidence of substance abuse problems among offenders, a large proportion of community corrections clients do not receive services addressing these concerns. Training probation and parole officers (PPOs) to provide addiction counselling has been suggested as one way of increasing the accessibility of treatment; however, there is a gap in the literature with respect to the factors influencing the successful dissemination of alcohol and drug training to this population. The present study reports on the results of data collected during a series of seven Structured Relapse Prevention training workshops offered to PPOs in Ontario, Canada. The study found that although the majority of PPOs supported the application of substance abuse counselling in probation and parole offices, time and caseload constraints were major obstacles to implementation.