Decision-Making Processes of Referral to Substance Use Treatment Among Justice-Involved Youth on Probation: A Qualitative Study

• In Event: Treating Justice-Involved Persons for Substance Use and Misuse

Abstract

Objective: Justice-involved youth on community supervision have a high prevalence of substance use, but treatment referral rates for these individuals are low. It is important to increase our understanding of and improve the referral process by exploring the individual- and organizational-level factors that affect referral decision procedures, given the minimal literature in this area.
Methods: Guided by a new conceptual model of the referral process, qualitative data from staff focus group interviews from the Juvenile-Justice Translational Research on Interventions for Adolescents in the Legal System project (JJ-TRIALS) are used to examine decisions that influence referrals to substance use treatment.
Results: The results identify the key systems- and agency-level factors that influence referral decisions, in addition to challenges in this process by probation and behavioral health staff. Key themes including communication and collaboration further demonstrate the importance of what is needed for an effective referral.
Conclusion: Understanding the referral process through a qualitative lens allows agencies to modify existing or add new procedures to increase appropriate referrals for youth in need by identifying factors that impede or facilitate staff decisions to make a treatment referral.

Author

• Sarah DeLucca, Temple University