Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research

The current wave of the opioid epidemic has contributed to a record number of drug-related overdoses and a significant proportion of people who experience opioid use disorder are admitted to local jails. These correctional facilities serve as the principal entry point to the criminal justice system as nearly every person who is taken into custody is admitted to a local detention center. Although jails are recognized as primary intervention points for people who may require treatment for opioid use disorder, services in these facilities remain deficient...

Integrated health care (IHC) is efficacious, cost-effective, and more attractive to some consumers than traditional standalone psychotherapy, but the specific characteristics of IHC that drive this enhanced attraction have yet to be explored among potential future mental health consumers. As such, this brief report documents the results of a survey of 428 US adults who were asked to rank order the relative personal importance of seven characteristics (e.g., self-stigma mitigation, prompt appointment, saving money)...

In the United States, opioid-related deaths involving polydrug use are now more prevalent than those involving only opioids. What often goes unnoticed is that deaths involving more than one substance are increasing more rapidly among Black Americans than Whites. Unfortunately, little research attention is paid to understanding opioid-related polydrug use patterns among Black Americans. As a result, less is known regarding which drug combinations are most common among this population and their reasons for co-using certain drugs...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Increasingly, US community mental health settings are integrating professional near-age youth peer support providers to improve youth service engagement and outcomes. Youth peer specialists (YPS) use their lived and living experiences with a mental health diagnosis to validate, empathize, and provide individualized support, while also improving their program's overall responsiveness to young people's needs. Although promising, these roles tend to lack clarity-responsibilities vary immensely, and turnover is high...

Despite the empirical literature suggesting the benefits of providing patient support and psychotherapy, research examining patient satisfaction with psychological services integrated within inpatient psychiatric treatment settings remains scarce. A sample of 122 adults within a voluntary inpatient psychiatric unit, who were receiving psychological services completed a satisfaction questionnaire. Overall, participants reported high levels of satisfaction with psychological services and perceived them as helpful to their overall care...

Behavioral health issues, especially depression, are a major health disparity concern for Native Hawaiians in Hawai'i. Following the cultural safety framework and contextual behavioral science approach to intervention development, the present preliminary qualitative investigation aimed to gather better insight into Native Hawaiians' views of depression and its causes as well as their preferred forms of behavioral health services. Data were initially collected from a 2-hour virtual focus group with three behavioral health service providers working with Native Hawaiians, followed by a total of 38 online one-on-one in-depth interviews with Native Hawaiian clients with depression (n = 19), behavioral health service providers working with Native Hawaiian adults (n = 9), and Native Hawaiian cultural leaders (n = 10)...

Child welfare decisions have life-impacting consequences which, often times, are underpinned by limited or inadequate data and poor quality. Though research of data quality has gained popularity and made advancements in various practical areas, it has not made significant inroads for child welfare fields or data systems. Poor data quality can hinder service decision-making, impacting child behavioral health and well-being as well as increasing unnecessary expenditure of time and resources. Poor data quality can also undermine the validity of research and slow policymaking processes...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Families Facing the Future (FFF) is an intervention designed specifically for families with a parent in methadone treatment. FFF is unique because it addresses prevention for children and recovery for parents in a single intervention. The primary goals of the program are to prevent parents' relapse, help them cope with relapse if it occurs, and teach parenting skills in order to reduce the likelihood of substance use among their children. FFF has been implemented as an adjunct to treatment in several Opioid Treatment Programs, but has not been widely adopted due to various implementation barriers...

There has been an increase in the evaluation and implementation of non-specialist delivered psychological interventions to address unmet mental health needs in humanitarian emergencies. While randomized controlled trials (RCTs) provide important evidence about intervention impact, complementary qualitative process evaluations are essential to understand key implementation processes and inform future scaling up of the intervention. This study was conducted as part of an RCT of the Early Adolescents Skills for Emotions (EASE) psychological intervention for young adolescents with elevated psychological distress (predominantly with a Syrian refugee background) in Lebanon...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

The large majority of individuals who access substance use disorders (SUD) treatment do not receive evidence-based care. Little attention has been paid to the notion that the scale-up of evidence-based practices (EBPs) has been limited in large part due to a weakness in the "distribution system" for bringing new innovations to the attention of practitioners and into practice settings. This study explores the impact of the Training and Practice Implementation Institute (TPII; funded by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene), an intensive technical assistance initiative that offers external facilitation to outpatient SUD treatment providers via the incorporation of multiple evidence-based implementation strategies to enhance the practice of motivational interviewing (MI)...

Over the past decade, significant investments have been made in coordinated specialty care (CSC) models for first episode psychosis (FEP), with the goal of promoting recovery and preventing disability. CSC programs have proliferated as a result, but financing challenges imperil their growth and sustainability. In this commentary, the authors discuss (1) entrenched and emergent challenges in behavioral health policy of consequence for CSC financing; (2) implementation realities in the home rule context of Ohio, where significant variability exists across counties; and (3) recommendations to improve both care quality and access for individuals with FEP...

Data collection is an integral part of government agencies like the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA), for reporting program outcomes and accountability. SAMHSA-funded community behavioral health programs have been evaluated by the National Outcome Measures (NOMs) since 2007. NOMs collects data on important aspects of client health including but not limited to mental health symptoms, functioning, and social connectedness through interviews with clients. Since its inception, NOMs has gone through a number of revisions...

The delivery of person-centered care (PCC) is critical to promoting service engagement among individuals who use substances. Collaborative documentation (CD) is an emerging person-centered practice used in community mental health, but has not been evaluated in substance use settings. This qualitative study conducted focus groups with substance use treatment providers (n=22) in an outpatient clinic to examine the impact of CD on PCC and clinical quality. Rapid qualitative analysis methods were used to identify key themes...

Technology transfer centers (TTCs) facilitate the movement of evidence-based practices in behavioral healthcare from theory to practice. One of the largest such networks is the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA) TTC Network. This brief report shares findings from an organizational network analysis (ONA) of the network conducted as part of an external evaluation. For non-supervisory TTCs (n = 36) across three focus areas (addiction, prevention, and mental health), the authors computed network density, harmonic closeness, and non-null dyadic reciprocity for five types of interactions (e...

Studies exploring patient experience with eating disorder specialists have reported poor gender competency among clinicians, as revealed through patient-clinician interactions. Through interviews with eating disorder specialists, the authors sought to (1) clarify how and why current practice and clinical training may not meet the needs of transgender and gender-diverse patients, (2) assess where and how clinicians received education on gender identity, and (3) how changes can be made to meet educational and patient needs...

Experiencing homelessness during young adulthood is associated with negative health outcomes and understanding housing trajectories of young adults experiencing homelessness may aid in the development of evidence-based public health programs designed to serve this at-risk age group. In the present study, the authors examined baseline predictors of 24-month trajectories of housing stability and unsheltered housing among a sample of 271 young adults aged 18 to 25 recruited from drop-in centers in Los Angeles...

Women veterans have historically faced barriers to behavioral health treatment, particularly through the VA. In conjunction, there have been changes in behavioral healthcare delivery resulting from efforts to improve care for women veterans and the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., widespread telehealth implementation). The current study draws on a quantitative and qualitative study centering current perspectives of women veterans in their choices to seek or not seek behavioral healthcare in VA and non-VA settings through interviewing 18 women recruited from a larger survey study on veteran behavioral health (n = 83 women, n = 882 men) on their experiences with behavioral health care access and satisfaction, including barriers and facilitators to seeking care...