Evaluation of the jail-based occupational therapy transition and integration services program for community reentry

Lisa A. Jaegers, Erica Skinner, Brittany Conners, Christine Hayes, Stacy West-Bruce, Michael G. Vaughn, Diane L. Smith, Karen F. Barney

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Importance: Transition and integration reentry services continue to grow in carceral settings; however, related provision of occupational therapy is limited. Objective: To examine the implementation fidelity of an occupational therapy-administered interprofessional reentry program initiated in an urban jail. Design: Retrospective, mixed quantitative and qualitative design. Setting: Community-based reentry services provided prerelease in a Midwestern urban jail and postrelease in the local St. Louis community. Participants: Occupational therapy practitioners tracking process measures for identifying reentry project feasibility. Intervention: Provision of recruitment, assessment, and skilled occupational therapy services with people held in a short-term jail facility and follow-up during community reentry. Outcome and Measures: Detailed logs were analyzed to describe attendance at and duration of sessions. We coded barriers to and facilitators of implementation from weekly team meeting notes and logs using social-ecological categories. Results: Findings indicate that it was feasible to implement prerelease jail-based services (N = 63) because of jail operations and community partnerships (facilitators) and to overcome institutional policies and environmental limitations (barriers). Full 8-wk prerelease programming was completed by 38% (n = 24) of participants, and 52% (n = 33) participated less than 8 wk. All who completed the full prerelease program and transitioned to the community (n = 15) initiated postrelease occupational therapy services. Conclusions and Relevance: The iterative feedback provided by process evaluation supported the feasibility of implementing the jail-based Occupational Therapy Transition and Integration Services program.

Original languageEnglish
Article number035287
JournalAmerican Journal of Occupational Therapy
Volume74
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2020

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