Drug Treatment Courts (DTCs) are a rapidly evolving alternative to incarceration for non-violent drug offenders in the U.S. Presently there are more 3,000 Drug Treatment Courts operating nationwide. These courts take a collaborative, non-adversarial, team approach uniting the judge, prosecution and defense attorneys with substance abuse treatment professionals to facilitate effective drug treatment and related services (e.g., education, employment training), to eligible offenders who would otherwise be sentenced to jail or prison. Nearly three-quarters of persons assigned to treatment in the general criminal justice system never enter treatment or leave treatment prematurely which makes the work of the DTCs especially critical. However, while DTCs have been shown to reduce costs to the overall criminal justice system and to society at large, recidivism within the drug treatment court system continues to be a problem. Live InspiredLLC was established in 2006 to deliver a daily recovery-oriented TxM to subscribers, and has since expanded to offer daily messages from over twenty different programs. In 2009, we participated in a pilot project to develop recovery-oriented text messages for individuals sentenced through a DTC. Results demonstrated that DTC participants responded favorably to these messages, which were used by the presiding judge as an incentive for completing specific program requirements. For the proposed study, we will fully develop and implement an interactive text messaging intervention system for individuals newly sentenced in drug treatment court, a period during which they are expected to begin addressing underlying issues related to their addiction, and during which time they are highly vulnerable to relapse and noncompliance with mandated activities. Participants will complete surveys at baseline and be randomly assigned to receive 30-days of daily supportive text messages (TXS) in addition to their usual care, or a treatment as usual control (TAU). After day 30 in addition to collecting survey data, we will interview participants to obtain more detailed qualitative data about their experiences with the courts, and (if in the TXS group) their experiences with our program. Outcomes include compliance with Court-mandated appointments, abstinence from drug use (measured by urine testing), participation in substance abuse treatment, participation in any court-mandated education/employment training and other programs as directed by the Court. We anticipate those given TXS will show higher rates of compliance and fewer positive drug screen results than those in the TAU group. Estimates of effect size and qualitative data will be used to prepare for a future Phase-II application.
Public Health Relevance Statement: PROJECT NARRATIVE Drug Treatment Courts reflect the cutting edge of new, innovative treatment approaches for substance abuse within the criminal justice system. The proposed product, a text messaging system to aid recovery efforts that is integrated into the Drug Treatment Court's program, holds the promise of reducing recidivism, and improving treatment outcomes. This program can have an important impact on public health and as a produce has positive market potential.
Project Terms: addiction; Address; Adult; American; Appointment; barrier to care; Behavior Therapy; Car Phone; Client; commercialization; Communication; Control Groups; cost; court; Criminal Justice; Data; Databases; drug abstinence; Drug Courts; drug offender; Drug Screening; Drug usage; Education; Educational workshop; efficacy trial; Employment; Enrollment; Ensure; experience; Feedback; Future; Goals; Hour; Imprisonment; improved; improved outcome; Incentives; Individual; innovation; Intervention; Interview; Jail; Justice; Lawyers; Licensing; Measures; non-compliance; offender; Outcome; Participant; Persons; Pharmacotherapy; Phase; phase 1 study; Philosophy; Pilot Projects; premature; Prisons; programs; Public Health; Randomized; recidivism; Records; Recovery; recruit; Relapse; Reporting; Resources; response; Risk; Schedule; Screening Result; Services; social communication; Societies; Structure; Substance abuse problem; substance abuse treatment; Surveys; symposium; System; Telephone; Testing; Text Messaging; Time; tool; Training; Training Programs; treatment adherence; treatment as usual; treatment duration; Treatment outcome; United States; Urine; Work
