TOWAR: a comprehensive Training on Women's Addiction and Recovery

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purpose of this Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) proposal is to develop a woman-focused model of care specifically for use in a drug court system. Social Solutions International, Inc. (SSi), in cooperation with UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs (ISAP), proposes to develop this woman-focused, innovative model of a drug court program. This model of care will incorporate research, judicial training, appropriate treatment, criminal justice supervision, and services for women eligible for participation in drug court settings nationwide. Specifically, this project proposes to develop an innovative model of drug court for women offenders, which encompasses education and training for drug court personnel and substance abuse treatment staff, and an appropriate schedule of graduated sanctions to promote abstinence and other positive behaviors (e.g., reduced HIV risk behavior, reduced criminal activity, and improved employment/ education status, parenting skills, relationship skills, and psychological functioning) among women offenders deferred from incarceration through drug court. The proposed project involves the cooperation of the Los Angeles County Drug Court, in California, and the Center for Gender and Justice (as Advisory Board participants). Specific Aims: The proposed study has the following specific aims: 1. To develop a woman-focused training to educate drug court personnel (i.e., the judge, district attorney, public defender, bailiff, sheriff, etc.) on the specific issues relevant to the recovery of drug-dependent women offenders (e.g., HIV-risk behavior, mental health, physical health, prostitution, child-custody, trauma, domestic violence, etc.); 2. To develop a specific drug court model for drug-dependent women offenders the TOWAR toolkit -- encompassing an appropriate and manualized treatment protocol for drug-dependent women offenders (i.e., Helping Women Recover), a woman-focused schedule of graduated sanctions (i.e., consequences for failure to meet program requirements) and a systematic link between the court and social service partners in the county; 3. To qualitatively assess the feasibility of a woman-focused drug court model of treatment and supervision (i.e., from focus groups and interviews with existing drug court personnel). PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: An extensive body of literature has shown that drug-dependent women offenders' treatment needs and issues are very different than those for men and indeed more complex (Messina et al., 2003; Bloom, 1999). However, while there are currently over 1,000 drug courts in operation or planning stages across the nation, only one drug court currently specializes in delivering woman-focused treatment and supervision (Drug Strategies, 1998). The proposed comprehensive training and woman-focused model of care is relevant to public health because it addresses the current gap in the knowledge- base about drug-dependent women offenders and their complex treatment needs, which is especially important since published data influence funding directions as well as public perceptions of treatment for women, and the lack of in-depth data on treatment for drug- dependent women offenders can effectively exclude their needs and interests from critically important public health policy decisions.