Factors Associated With Use of Mental Health and Substance Use Treatment Services by Justice-Involved Youths

Abstract

Objective: Nonincarcerated (community-supervised) youths who are first-time offenders have high rates of mental and substance use disorders. However, little is known about their use of psychiatric services (mental health and substance use) or factors associated with service use. This study examined the prevalence, determinants, and barriers to service use among community-supervised youths.Methods: Data were from a longitudinal study of mental health and substance use outcomes among adolescents ages 12-18 from a northeastern family court in which caregivers and youths completed assessments (N=423 dyads). The Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition, assessed youths' psychiatric symptoms. The Child and Adolescent Services Assessment assessed service use and barriers. Family functioning and caregiver-adolescent communication were assessed with the McMaster Family Assessment Device and the Parent-Adolescent General Communication Scale, respectively. Multivariable regression analyses examined the cross-sectional relationship between youths' service use and determinants of use at baseline.Results: Of the 423 youths, 49% experienced psychiatric symptoms and 36% used psychiatric services in the past 4 months. The highest adjusted odds of service use were associated with youths' psychiatric symptoms and caregivers' history of a psychiatric diagnosis. The lowest odds were associated with caregivers' identifying as being from racial and ethnic minority groups. Caregiver-reported barriers to service use differed according to prior service use and by caregiver race-ethnicity.Conclusions: Results suggest a need for interventions to increase access to and engagement in psychiatric services for community-supervised youths and the importance of caregiver factors in designing such interventions.

Feasibility of Social Media–Based Recruitment and Perceived Acceptability of Digital Health Interventions for Caregivers of Justice-Involved Youth: Mixed Methods Study

“…In particular, digital mobile health (mHealth) technology is an efficacious, low-cost way of reaching underserved, vulnerable populations to engage them into and/or deliver quality care [19]. mHealth circumvents many barriers to treatment participation reported by caregivers of justice-involved youth [20], allowing for instantaneous, portable access and direct communication with providers [21]. mHealth effectively increases patient communication, monitoring, and education to reduce the burden of diseases associated with poverty and improves access to health services, clinical diagnosis, and treatment adherence [22].…”

Substance Use, Mental Health, and Child Welfare Profiles of Juvenile Justice-Involved Commercially Sexually Exploited Youth

“…This finding suggests that screening approaches and thresholds adopted for the broader population of CWS-involved youth may be directly applicable to youth impacted by CSE. Yet, despite the high levels of substance use among our sample, the prevalence of substance use treatment was only 40%, underscoring the gap between treatment need and treatment receipt among youth impacted by CSE (Yonek et al 2019). Accordingly, increasing linkages to substance use prevention and treatment services and interagency collaboration among systems of care are essential to facilitating access to needed services for youth impacted by CSE (Howell et al 2004;Chuang and Wells 2010).…”

Impact of family, neighborhood, and schools on behavioral health needs of justice-involved Latinx adolescents.

“…Prior research has also shown that acculturation gaps are associated with higher levels of family stress and dysfunction, poor communication, and risk behaviors such as substance use in adolescents (Martinez, 2006). For FTO-CINI adolescents in particular, behaviors like substance use have been shown to elevate risk for other psychiatric symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation and increase risk for recidivism and justice involvement, particularly if unassessed and unaddressed (Yonek et al, 2019). Understanding the acculturation gap’s role in Latinx families with justice-involved adolescents seems critical given that previous studies have shown that integrating immigration and culture-specific components in interventions improves treatment (Griner & Smith, 2006; Parra-Cardona et al, 2019).…”