Guidelines for Special Populations Under Community Supervisions: Using the RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method to Synthesize Knowledge from Diverse Sources

• In Event: Community-Based Research and Social Determinants of Health

Abstract

Community supervision in the U.S. employs a wide variety of practices to monitor special populations under correction control. Special populations may present with different behavioral health diagnoses (e.g., substance use disorder, serious mental illness) and/or offenses committed (e.g., intimate partner violence, general violence), meaning that appropriate interventions for them may differ. While some practices used to supervise special populations are evidence-based, others have little research to demonstrate their efficacy; in some cases, commonly used practices may even have harmful effects. Facing similar challenges, the fields of medicine and public health have used the RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method to standardize practices and identify those with an evidence base. Our research team used a modified version of the RAND/UCLA method to blend knowledge from academic/clinical experts, practitioners, and people involved in the criminal legal system to develop practice guidelines for use with different special populations. This strategy highlights the benefits and challenges of collecting, synthesizing, and translating the knowledge from these diverse sources. As such, this presentation will describe: (1) the special populations monitored by the community supervision system, (2) adapting the RAND/UCLA method to develop guidelines for supervising these populations, and (3) using supervision guidelines in practice.

Authors

• Benjamin Mackey, George Mason University

• CJ Appleton, George Mason University

• JoAnn Lee, George Mason University

• Faye Taxman, George Mason University, Center for Advancing Correctional Excellence!