National Findings on Contemporaneous Use of Mental Health and Substance Use Treatment Services among Justice-Involved Adults Experiencing Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorders

• In Event: Substance Use Treatment for Criminal Offenders

Abstract

The literature has shown mixed findings on the relationship between justice involvement and utilization of mental health and substance abuse treatment services among adults with mental illnesses or substance use disorders. Moreover, it is unknown how criminal justice involvement may be related to utilization of concurrent mental health and substance use treatment services among dually-diagnosed adults. This study examined whether a history of criminal justice involvement is related to the use of contemporaneous mental health and substance use treatment among adults experiencing mental illness and substance use disorders. Using 2009-2013 pooled data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, patterns of mental health and substance use treatment utilization of 8,740 adults experiencing past-year mental health and substance use disorders were analyzed. Findings suggest that criminal justice referrals and/or mandates are being utilized to effect receipt of contemporaneous substance abuse and mental health treatment among people with co-occurring disorders. A similar effect of criminal history on substance use treatment was also observed. This latter observation may reflect the possibility that, for individuals with a history of criminal justice involvement, substance use disorders are often identified as the primary treatment diagnosis and/or as contributing to mental health problems.

Authors

• Jason Matejkowski, University of Kansas

• Eunji Nam, University of Kansas

• Sungkyu Lee, Soongsil University