Adherence to Scheduled Sessions in a Randomized Field Trial of Case Management: The Criminal Justice-Drug Abuse Treatment Studies Transitional Case Management Study

• NCJ Number: 228880
• Journal: Journal of Experimental Criminology Volume: 5 Issue: 3 Dated: September 2009 Pages: 273-297
• Author(s): Michael Prendergast; Lisa Greenwell; Jerome Cartier; JoAnn Sacks; Linda Frisman; Eleni Rodis; Jennifer R. Havens
• Date Published: September 2009
• Length: 25 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health and Human Services; Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA); Ctr's for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Admin (SAMHSA); National Institutes of Health
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: Israel

Annotation

This study examined adherence to scheduled sessions in a randomized field trial of case management intervention provided during an inmate's transition from incarceration to the community.

Abstract

his Transitional Case Management (TCM) study is one of the projects of the Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies (CJ-DATS) cooperative. This study found that clients in the TCM group attended fewer than half of the 12 scheduled case management sessions, an average of 5.7 sessions. Approximately 13 percent did not attend any sessions, and another 18 percent attended one to three sessions. TCM clients received, on average, approximately 3 hours of case management across all sessions. Given the population being served by TCM, however, the reasons for limited attendance should not be surprising. Twenty-four percent of the TCM clients were reincarcerated at some time during the intervention. For clients who attended fewer than four sessions, the case manager had no working telephone number or address for 46 percent of the clients. Since attendance at case management sessions was voluntary, the case manager had little leverage with those clients who had no need or desire to attend. Given the minimal pressures on parolees to participate in case management and the competing demands on parolees' time, the case manager or the agency providing case management should consider steps to increase attendance. Effective methods that have been used include scheduling appointments as soon as possible after initial contact with the client, reminding clients of appointments through letters and telephone calls, establishing commitment contracts with clients, providing clients with incentives for attendance, and addressing various obstacles clients face in attending sessions. Subjects were recruited from prison-based treatment programs in 4 States to produce a baseline sample of 386 in the TCM condition. Forms were completed by case managers for each scheduled session, whether or not the client attended. 6 tables, 1 figure, and 56 references