Nearly 4.4 million individuals are on community supervision in the United States, with the majority (about80%) being supervised under probation.1 Justice involved persons (JIPs) have a 474% increased lifetimeexperience with heroin, a 303% increased use of OxyContin in the last 12 months, and a 256% increased use inpain medication in the last 12 months, compared to the general population.3 One important step in addressingsubstance use and addiction is getting individuals engaged in the treatment process, as initiation and retentionrates are very low for substance use treatment among this population. Q2i successfully developed theProbation/Parole And Reentry Coach Application (PARCA) technology, which includes a Justice Team (JT)Dashboard connected to a mobile app designed for JIPs. The platform enables JIPs to set and manage theirpersonal goals while assisting them in addressing the social determinants of health (SDOH) in order tofacilitate and supplement the substance use treatment process. It provides a step-by-step guide and identifieslocal services and resources that the JIPs can connect with to accomplish these goals. At the same time, it givesthe JT a dashboard that enables greater insight on how a JIP is managing their plan. This increased connectionand communication between the JT and the JIP is designed to improve the community supervision process. Inthis Phase 1/Phase 2 Fast Track STTR application, Q2i's PARCA platform will be refined and implemented inDallas and Hidalgo Counties to test its efficacy. The primary goal of Phase I is to enhance the PARCAplatform for JIP. The study team will accomplish this by recruiting three sets of 2 PPOs/Case Managers willingto use PARCA with five of their clients who have used any opioids in the last 12 months (total JIPs = 30) for 2-weeks. The team will conduct interviews with PPOs and their clients that will inform our user-centered designiterations. Initial interviews will describe barriers and challenges to successful community supervisionincluding accessing MOUD treatment and how PARCA can be improved to address these challenges. Follow-up interviews will describe feasibility (use of the PARCA platform features) and acceptability (engagementwith PARCA platform through user engagement logs) of using PARCA platform to locate and access MOUDtreatment. The overall goal of Phase II is to test the relative efficacy of supervision as usual (SAU) andPARCA in helping JIPs under community supervision engage in substance use treatment process and reducesubsequent involvement in criminal behavior. Using a stepped wedge effectiveness design, we will evaluate thePARCA platform across probation/parole officers (PPOs) (N=60), probationers/parolees (N=600). PPOs willbe randomized in three clusters of 20 people to utilize PARCA. Lastly, we will assess the acceptability andfeasibility of PARCA platform by supervision officers and justice-involved persons (JIPs) and whetherPARCA improves the working alliance between supervisors and JIPs.
Public Health Relevance Statement: PROJECT NARRATIVE
Nearly 5 million people are on probation and parole supervision. This project will study the effectiveness of the
Probation and Reentry Coach App (PARCA) and Justice Team (JT) portal, a technology-based intervention to
help justice-involved people (JIP) address opioid use.
Project Terms:
