{"title":"Changes in legal referrals to specialty substance use disorder treatment from 2015-2019.","authors":"Carrie E Fry, Jacob Harris, Marguerite E Burns","doi":"10.1186/s40352-024-00297-2","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The policy landscape around substance use has changed dramatically in the past decade, which may have affected the number and characteristics of treatment episodes for substance use disorder (SUD). In this study, we examine changes in the volume of SUD treatment referrals from the legal system and compare changes in the composition of substances used by referral source. We used publicly available discharge data on specialty SUD treatment episodes in the U.S. from 2015-2019 and included episodes involving adults that are discharged from specialty SUD treatment facilities during the study. We calculated descriptive statistics of specialty SUD treatment discharges in each year and aggregated across all years by referral source and substance(s) reported upon admission. To test differences by year and referral source, we conducted z-tests of proportions.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The proportion of referrals to specialty SUD treatment from the legal system declined between 2015 and 2019 (p < 0.001). However, referrals from probation/parole and diversionary programs grew over time (p < 0.001) in number and proportion over time. Legal referrals were most often associated with alcohol or cannabis use, though referrals for these substances declined from 2015-2019.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This research lays the groundwork for future investigations to evaluate the effect of important policy changes on referral sources to specialty SUD treatment and the quality and outcomes associated with referrals to treatment from the legal system.</p>","PeriodicalId":37843,"journal":{"name":"Health and Justice","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11539304/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Health and Justice","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40352-024-00297-2","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: The policy landscape around substance use has changed dramatically in the past decade, which may have affected the number and characteristics of treatment episodes for substance use disorder (SUD). In this study, we examine changes in the volume of SUD treatment referrals from the legal system and compare changes in the composition of substances used by referral source. We used publicly available discharge data on specialty SUD treatment episodes in the U.S. from 2015-2019 and included episodes involving adults that are discharged from specialty SUD treatment facilities during the study. We calculated descriptive statistics of specialty SUD treatment discharges in each year and aggregated across all years by referral source and substance(s) reported upon admission. To test differences by year and referral source, we conducted z-tests of proportions.
Results: The proportion of referrals to specialty SUD treatment from the legal system declined between 2015 and 2019 (p < 0.001). However, referrals from probation/parole and diversionary programs grew over time (p < 0.001) in number and proportion over time. Legal referrals were most often associated with alcohol or cannabis use, though referrals for these substances declined from 2015-2019.
Conclusions: This research lays the groundwork for future investigations to evaluate the effect of important policy changes on referral sources to specialty SUD treatment and the quality and outcomes associated with referrals to treatment from the legal system.
背景：在过去十年中，围绕药物使用的政策环境发生了巨大变化，这可能会影响到药物使用障碍（SUD）治疗发作的数量和特征。在本研究中，我们考察了法律系统转介的药物滥用障碍治疗量的变化，并比较了转介来源所使用药物的构成变化。我们使用了 2015-2019 年期间美国公开的专科 SUD 治疗事件出院数据，并纳入了研究期间从专科 SUD 治疗机构出院的成人事件。我们计算了每年专科药物滥用治疗出院的描述性统计数据，并按转介来源和入院时报告的药物种类汇总了所有年份的数据。为了检验不同年份和转介来源的差异，我们对比例进行了z检验：结果：2015 年至 2019 年间，从法律系统转介到专科 SUD 治疗的比例有所下降（p）：这项研究为未来的调查奠定了基础，以评估重要政策变化对特殊 SUD 治疗转介来源的影响，以及从法律系统转介治疗的相关质量和结果。
期刊介绍：
Health & Justice is open to submissions from public health, criminology and criminal justice, medical science, psychology and clinical sciences, sociology, neuroscience, biology, anthropology and the social sciences, and covers a broad array of research types. It publishes original research, research notes (promising issues that are smaller in scope), commentaries, and translational notes (possible ways of introducing innovations in the justice system). Health & Justice aims to: Present original experimental research on the area of health and well-being of people involved in the adult or juvenile justice system, including people who work in the system; Present meta-analysis or systematic reviews in the area of health and justice for those involved in the justice system; Provide an arena to present new and upcoming scientific issues; Present translational science—the movement of scientific findings into practice including programs, procedures, or strategies; Present implementation science findings to advance the uptake and use of evidence-based practices; and, Present protocols and clinical practice guidelines. As an open access journal, Health & Justice aims for a broad reach, including researchers across many disciplines as well as justice practitioners (e.g. judges, prosecutors, defenders, probation officers, treatment providers, mental health and medical personnel working with justice-involved individuals, etc.). The sections of the journal devoted to translational and implementation sciences are primarily geared to practitioners and justice actors with special attention to the techniques used.
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