Absence of conflict of interest.
Citation
Highlights
- The study’s objective was to examine the effects of an employment intervention tailored for drug-involved offenders on employment and earnings outcomes.
- The study was a randomized controlled trial where authors randomly assigned clients at two drug courts in Kentucky to a control group that received regular court mandated services or a treatment group that received both regular court mandated services as well as a tailored employment intervention. Using interview data, the authors conducted statistical tests to compare outcomes between the treatment and control group 12 months after program enrollment.
- The study found a statistically significant positive relationship between the employment intervention tailored for drug-involved offenders and the number of days paid for legal employment in the 12 months after random assignment. The study found no statistically significant relationship between the intervention and earnings in the 12 months after random assignment.
- The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is high because it was based on a well-implemented randomized controlled trial. This means we are confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the employment intervention tailored for drug-involved offenders, and not to other factors.
Intervention Examined
Employment intervention tailored for drug-involved offenders
Features of the Intervention
The employment intervention included 26 tailored individual and group counseling sessions delivered by a trained employment specialist to individuals participating in regular court mandated substance use treatment services. The intervention was delivered in three phases: obtaining employment, maintaining employment, and upgrading employment. The sessions covered topics such as networking, preparing resumes, writing a cover letter, filling out job applications, addressing and overcoming a criminal record in the job application and interview, and proper work behavior. Individual sessions focused on behavioral contracting, motivational interviewing, and strengths-based case management to resolve employment barriers that may hinder employment success. In addition to using motivational interviewing, group sessions also used structured stories and thought mapping to address clients’ employment needs.
Features of the Study
The study was a randomized controlled trial that randomly assigned 500 clients to treatment and control groups. Clients were recruited from two drug courts in Kentucky between 2000 to 2002. The majority of the participants were male (65%) and more than half were white (61%), with an average age of 30.5 years.
The analysis included 244 participants were assigned to the treatment group and 233 participants were assigned to the control group. The treatment group received both regular court-mandated services as well as the tailored employment intervention, while the control group only received the regular court-mandated services. About 61% of the intervention participants completed half or more of the sessions provided.
Data were collected through in-person baseline and follow-up interviews. Demographic and employment data were collected using the Addiction Severity Index and measures developed by the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine. Work status, days paid for legal employment, and income from legal employment were compared between the treatment and control groups at 12 months after program enrollment.
Findings
Employment
- The study found a statistically significant positive relationship between the employment intervention tailored for drug-involved offenders and the number of days paid for legal employment in the 12-month follow-up period, with the treatment group reporting an average of 210 days paid for legal employment compared to 200 days for the control group.
- The study found no statistically significant relationship between the intervention tailored for drug-involved offenders and unemployment rates during the follow-up period.
Earnings and wages
- The study found no statistically significant relationship between the employment intervention tailored for drug-involved offenders and earnings in the 12-month follow-up period.
- The study found no statistically significant relationship between the employment intervention tailored for drug-involved offenders and earnings in the 30 days prior to the follow-up interview.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
The study authors estimated multiple related impacts on outcomes related to employment and earnings. Performing multiple statistical tests on related outcomes makes it more likely that some impacts will be found statistically significant purely by chance and not because they reflect program effectiveness. The authors did not perform statistical adjustments to account for the multiple tests, so the number of statistically significant findings in these domains is likely to be overstated.
Causal Evidence Rating
The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is high because it was based on a well-implemented randomized controlled trial. This means we are confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the employment intervention tailored for drug-involved offenders, and not to other factors.