Assessing the impact of treatment quality, matching and dosage on juvenile justice outcomes among a statewide sample of youth with co-occurring substance abuse and mental health disorders

It is currently unknown whether matching services to criminogenic needs and providing services at Standardized Program Evaluation Protocol (SPEP)- supported dosages (which has demonstrated efficacy among the general population of youth in juvenile justice) leads to positive outcomes (risk reduction and reduced recidivism) for youth in juvenile justice residential facilities with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders (COD). The current proposal aims to examine the prevalence of co-occurring disorders among a multiyear, statewide sample of youth serving residential placements within the juvenile justice system in the state of Florida. The goals are to: 1) determine prevalence of mental health and substance use disorders and their cooccurrence among youth placed in long-term juvenile justice facilities across a large and diverse state; 2) assess the impact of service matching to assessed dynamic risk factors, treatment quality/fidelity, and the dosage of services actually provided to each youth on both changes in risk during placement and recidivism outcomes among youth with cooccurring disorders completing residential placement in Florida between July 1, 2016 and June 30, 2019; and 3) provide and disseminate findings related to the efficacy of best practices through the combination of service matching/treatment quality/dosage of treatment within residential facilities among youth presenting with co-occurring disorders. The proposed project will be inclusive of all juveniles who completed a residential placement within the state of Florida during a 3-year period (July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2019; n=6,574) which allows for adequate follow-up to track recidivism (re-adjudication within 12 months in Florida) among these youth up to one year after release. From this population of youth who completed residential placement, those with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders will be identified and included in the analyses described herein. This is unique, as never before has the associations between treatment quality, matching, and dosage with youth outcomes been examined in such a large, diverse, statewide population of youth with co-occurring serious mental health and substance abuse issues. This study will provide the empirical support needed to promote best practices for treatment within juvenile residential facilities. CA/NCF