Journal article
Substance Use, Mental Health Problems, and Behavior at Risk for HIV: Evidence from CJDATS
Journal of psychoactive drugs, Vol.40(4), pp.459-469
12/01/2008
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/117407
PMID: 19283950
Abstract
This study examined the relationships between substance abuse, mental health problems and HIV risk behavior in offenders discharged from prison and referred to substance abuse treatment programs. Data from 34 sites (n = 1,358) in a federally-funded cooperative agreement, the Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies (CJDATS), were analyzed. Among parolees referred to substance abuse treatment, self reports for the six-month period before the arrest resulting in their incarceration revealed frequent problems with both substance use and mental health. HIV risk behavior was operationalized as either (a) unsafe injection drug use, e.g., sharing needles and/or sharing injection equipment, or (b) unsafe sex, e.g., sex without a condom. The findings were that (1) unsafe injection drug use was associated with unsafe sex and vice versa, (2) unsafe sex behavior was related to frequency of drug use, and (3) unsafe sex behavior was related to frequency of alcohol use. In these samples, mental health problems did not have a significant effect on risk behavior, controlling for other variables. Future research should probe this "nonfinding" using standardized diagnostic and symptom measures to provide greater detail on the mental health problems (e.g., age of onset, frequency, and severity of the problem).
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Details
- Title
- Substance Use, Mental Health Problems, and Behavior at Risk for HIV: Evidence from CJDATS
- Creators
- Frank S Pearson - Center for the Integration of Research & Practice (CIRP) National Development & Research Institutes, Inc. (NDRI)Charles M Cleland - Center for the Integration of Research & Practice (CIRP) National Development & Research Institutes, Inc. (NDRI)Michael Chaple - Center for the Integration of Research & Practice (CIRP) National Development & Research Institutes, Inc. (NDRI)Zachary Hamilton - Center for the Integration of Research & Practice (CIRP) National Development & Research Institutes, Inc. (NDRI)Michael L Prendergast - Criminal Justice Research Group, Integrated Substance Abuse Treatment Programs , Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los AngelesJosiah D Rich - Brown University, The Miriam Hospital
- Publication Details
- Journal of psychoactive drugs, Vol.40(4), pp.459-469
- Academic Unit
- Criminal Justice and Criminology, Department of
- Publisher
- Taylor & Francis Group
- Identifiers
- 99900548492901842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article