Project Summary: The ACCEL Program (DE-CTR) is an NIH funded collaborative effort with the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) to advance training and scholarship in clinical and translational research. The Specific Aims of the DE-CTR are to: Develop the infrastructure to facilitate the growth and development of clinical and translational research within Delaware and South Carolina; Facilitate the recruitment, training, and professional development of clinicians, scientists, and engineers that will synergistically develop outstanding clinical and translational research programs; and Develop model community engagement outreach programs that promote health and wellness to a diverse population of Delawareans.
Urban Lifestyles Project: Drug Use and Spatial Patterns of Crime
Funding Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Project Summary: Interviews were conducted to assess the impact of drug use, spatial, and environmental factors on decisions made by drug offenders to execute burglaries, robberies, and thefts, and to engage in prostitution, drug dealing, and shoplifting
Social Factors in Medication and Alcohol Use by the Aged
Funding Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Project Summary: This project was a collaborative effort among researchers at the University of Delaware, Oregon State University, the University of Arizona, and the University of Kentucky to study social factors in medication and alcohol use by the aged in a sample of elderly respondents.
School Experience and Adolescent Substance Abuse
Funding Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Project Summary: The study explored whether educational stratification of students via grading, tracking, promotion and retention, or placement in magnet or alternative schools influences or is influenced by student substance abuse.
KEY/Crest Programs: W.C.I. Village: A Therapeutic Community for Women Inmates
Funding Source: Center for Substance Abuse Treatment
Project Summary: This project involved the implementation and evaluation of a new substance abuse treatment initiative for female offenders. The project addressed the fact that incarcerated women have inadequate access to drug abuse treatment, and consequently, are handicapped in remaining drug-free and crime-free after release from the institution.
Efficacy of the Female Condom for Women at High HIV Risk
Funding Source: National Institute of Drug Abuse
Project Summary: This project was funded to test the acceptability and efficacy of the Reality ™ Vagina Pouch (the female condom) among a population of Delaware woman at high risk for HIV and other STD acquisition and transmission.
KEY/Crest Programs: Ongoing Studies of Treatment for High Risk Drug Users
Funding Source: National Institute of Drug Abuse
Project Summary: This project was funded to continue and expand upon two NIDA Treatment Research Demonstration studies—one focusing on assertive case-management and the other on therapeutic communities in corrections. Both projects involved the implementation and evaluation of innovative treatment strategies for drug-involved prison releases in the State of Delaware.
Project Summary: The goals of the study were the development and testing of measures that integrate street and treatment research findings to assess the needs of women enmeshed in crime/cocaine lifestyles.
Saum, Christine A., Matthew L. Hiller, Margaret E. Laigey, James A. Inciardi and Hilary L. Surratt. In Press. “Predictors of Substance Abuse Treatment Entry for Crime-Involved Cocaine – Dependent Women.” Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
Efficacy of Behavior Methods for Women at High HIV Risk
Funding Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Project Summary: This project tested the acceptability and efficacy of the Reality ™ Vaginal Pouch (the female condom) among a population of Delaware women at high risk for HIV and other STD acquisition and transmission.
Barrier Methods Multi-Site Study
Funding Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Project Summary: This project’s aim was to expand the scope of the Barrier Methods study. The purpose was to introduce the female condom to high risk women and men at the six sites, to assess the acceptability of the female condom, and to examine correlates of its use.
Ethnicity, Poverty and Latino Homicide: The Effects of Immigration on Crime
Funding Source: National Science Foundation
Project Summary: This project was designed to expand homicide research by examining the socioeconomic factors that shaped Latino Homicide.
Validity of Self-Reported Drug Use in Population Surveys
Funding Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Project Summary: This study sought to fill a void in our knowledge about the validity of survey data on drug use among the general population. The goal of this study was to establish methods to estimate misreporting and to encourage honest reporting.
Ongoing Studies of Treatment for High-Risk Drug Users – Merit Award
Funding Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Project Summary: This study examined the relative effectiveness of two alternative criminal justice based treatment conditions, to examine the impact of treatment program expansions on prison operations.
Drug Court Offenders in Outpatient Treatment
Funding Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Project Summary: This project aimed to increase our understanding of the influence that drug courts have in motivating treatment retention and post-treatment success for drug-involved offenders.
A Cross-National Study of the Youth Drug-Violence Nexus
Funding Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Project Summary: This project examined the drug-relatedness of violence among youth in the Philadelphia and Toronto metropolitan areas. This comparative study hoped to make an important contribution to understanding the extent to which drugs contribute to the patterns of violence among youth.
HIV/AIDS Risk Reduction Among Drug-Involved Probationers
Funding Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Project Summary: This project was designed to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS among drug-involved probationers. The nature of this research was to determine the nature and extent of HIV/AIDS risk behavior and the prevalence of HIV-1 in a non-treatment population of felony probationers.
Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies (CJ-DATS): Middle Atlantic Center
Funding Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Project Summary: The overall objective of CJ-DATS was to improve outcomes for criminal justice involved individuals with drug abuse problems or addictive disorders by enhancing the integration of drug abuse treatment with other public health and safety systems.
Project Summary: The specific research aims of this project were to evaluate the CREST TC program in cooperation with NDRI, use grant support to access official correctional and criminal justice records to improve recidivism outcome criteria, and make retrospective use of existing client treatment files to augment existing evaluation data.
CJ-DATS: Targeted HIV/Hepatitis Intervention for Reentering Offenders
Funding Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Project Summary: In a multi-site field trial which was initiated in 2006, the project evaluated an existing state-of-the-art HIV intervention and the new multi-media, DVD-based approach tailored to the specific risk circumstances of different gender and race/ethnic groups.
Project Summary: The Step’n Out study is intended to fully integrate drug abuse treatment counseling with parole supervision and at the same time to provide parole officers with a behavioral supervision approach that systematically rewards progress and punishes lack of adherence.
A Comparison of Two Reentry Strategies for Drug Abusing Juvenile Offenders
Funding Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Project Summary: This study is intended to compare usual aftercare services for juveniles with cognitive restructuring, an intervention that targets the adolescent’s distorted or negative thinking patterns.
CJ-DATS: Target Interventions for Corrections (TIC)
Funding Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Project Summary: This project’s aim was to establish guidelines and resources for an evidence-based library of targeted treatment intervention components for outpatient reentry correctional programs.
CJ-DATS: National Criminal Justice Treatment Practices Survey (NCJTP)
Funding Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Project Summary: This survey provided estimates of the prevalence of certain treatment delivery practices within the criminal justice system and will expand current understanding of the organizational and structural issues that influence practice.
CJ-DATS: Performance Indicators for Corrections (PIC)
Funding Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Project Summary: Instruments to evaluate client motivation and treatment needs were developed and tested in the PIC study. The CJ-CEST, developed at Texas Christian University, includes four scales measuring treatment needs and motivation, six scales measuring psychological and social functioning, and five scales measuring treatment process.
Roads Diverge: Long-Term Patterns of Relapse, Recidivism and Desistance for a Re-Entry Cohort
Funding Source: National Institute of Justice
Project Summary: This project takes advantage of existing data from a large longitudinal treatment evaluation study of drug-involved offenders to identify long-term patterns or “trajectories” of recidivism, desistance, and relapse in a large, mixed race and gender sample first identified in the 1990s. The project plots trajectories of criminal involvement over a period of 10-15 years after release from prison by completing criminal and drug involvement histories on the cohort up to the present, making it possible to describe patterns of criminal and drug involvement as a function of demographic characteristics and ensuing life events. The project also utilizes these trajectories to create a sampling framework identifying different types of offending patterns: desisters, persisters, episodic, maturational, and potentially others.
The Bridges Project
Funding Source: The Center for Medicare and Medical Innovation
Project Summary: The Bridges Health Care innovation Award to Christiana Care Health Services from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation seeks to improve the continuity, completeness and utility of patient data available to the Cardiac Care Team and to improve the access to and utility of direct patient care services. CDHS is assisting in this by collecting information from cardiac patients on the care they received post-release, their satisfaction with care, and their observations on areas that can be improved. Thus far over 375 surveys have been collected and results from the study are being shared with Christiana in order to maximize their ability to meet patient needs. Preliminary results have also been submitted to the American Heart Association’s annual conference and will be presented mid-November 2014.
