Topic: Evaluating Treatment Approaches

Order Description

Introduction
Alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine, what comes to mind when you hear these terms?. The use of these and other drugs is rampant in the United States, and, not surprisingly, drug use is a major issue with both prison and outpatient forensic populations. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, drug-related arrests comprise a major portion of total arrests and reasons for incarceration (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2014). Specifically, drug and alcohol use complicates clinical presentation, which in turn impacts the treatment process and treatment outcomes. This week, you survey the types of drugs abused in forensic populations and consider how these drugs might complicate treatment and treatment outcomes. You also evaluate the use of the three treatment outcome models with drug-related offenders.
Objectives
Students will:
? Evaluate treatment approaches for drug offenders in terms of treatment outcome models success
? Evaluate drug treatment approaches

Discussion 1: Evaluating Treatment Approaches
When it comes to treating drug offenders, forensic treatment practitioners must have a solid understanding of desired outcomes in order to select a suitable treatment approach. Drug abuse often results in uncharacteristic behavior and may actually generate complications related to the mental health treatment and physical well-being of the offender. Treatment outcomes are not “one size fits all,” and desirable outcomes differ for each offender. For some offenders, a successful outcome is never to use substances again, and the relapse treatment outcome model would best describe the desired outcome of lifelong abstinence. For other offenders, success is defined as the offender doing less damage to relationships and to society through controlled use of substances, and therefore the harm-reduction model fits best. Finally, success with the recidivism model simply means that the drug offender does not return to the criminal justice system. Each desired treatment outcome is specific to the individual offender in terms of how success is defined. This definition impacts the choice of treatment approach and guides aftercare planning as well.
To prepare for this Discussion:
o Select a treatment approach that is of particular interest to you for drug offenders.
o Conduct an academic search in the Walden Library, and select at least one scholarly article from a peer-reviewed journal that discusses the treatment approach you selected. This treatment approach should demonstrate efficacy in treating drug-offending forensic populations.
o Reflect on the treatment outcome models found in the resources for this week. Think about how the treatment approach in the research article you selected might be evaluated by using these treatment outcome models.
o Select one treatment outcome model that you think would be the most effective for measuring the success of your selected treatment approach.
With these thoughts in mind:
Write a brief synopsis of the research article you selected. Include the type of drug abused and the treatment approach used. Then explain which treatment outcome model you would use to measure the success of the treatment approach, and why. Be specific.
Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the resources.