Psychological Services

Factors predicting levels of female inmates’ use of psychological services.
The number of female inmates in state and federal correctional institutions has increased dramatically over the past several years. In addition to this overall increase in number, women have greater levels of mental health service use than men, both in the community and during incarceration. It is important to understand what factors are associated with varying amounts of mental health service use as this population continues to grow. This study explores the influence of female inmate characteristics, including demographic variables and mental health service use before incarceration, on a continuous dependent measure of overall psychological services use during incarceration. Results indicate that for a sample of female inmates within the federal prison system, U.S. citizenship, prior community-based receipt of mental health services, and history of substance abuse were the strongest predictors of increased service use while incarcerated. Findings concerning routine versus volitional services suggest that female inmates with less severe mental health problems are among those who volitionally seek mental health services during incarceration. Recommendations for correctional mental health services training, practice, and research are made. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Race differences in psychopathology and disparities in treatment seeking: Community and jail-based treatment-seeking patterns.
Whites in community samples use mental health services at a much higher rate than African Americans (Kessler et al., 2005). Is this also the case among those in jails? In this study of jail inmates (229 African American, 185 White), there were no race differences in the overall need for mental health treatment (63% of participants had significant symptoms on the Personality Assessment Inventory), but race differences in the level and types of symptoms were evident. In addition, although Whites were more likely to report preincarceration treatment, there were no differences in treatment seeking or access to mental health programs while in jail, implying that if barriers to treatment in the community were removed (cost/insurance, location/transportation, time), racial disparities in treatment utilization may be reduced. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
The relationship between status variables and criminal thinking in an offender population.
The authors examined the relationship between criminal thinking factors of control, cognitive immaturity, and egocentrism, and offender characteristics (i.e., age, education, sentence length, time served, reception of mental health services) in 435 adult male offenders. Results of a canonical correlation analysis identified 1 significant and meaningful relationship between a criminal thinking set containing all 3 factors and an offender characteristic set containing all characteristics except for age. Higher levels of criminal thinking on all 3 factors were associated with more education, longer sentence length, more time served, and lack of reception of mental health services. Implications for providing treatment with offenders that targets reducing criminal recidivism and future directions for investigation into the relationship between dynamic recidivism risk factors and offender characteristics are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Reasons for choosing a correction officer career.
Correction officers represent a growing segment of the U. S. workforce, with more job openings today than there are applicants. However, there is scant scholarship on this subgroup of law enforcement personnel. In this study, 256 correction officer candidates completed a brief measure regarding their reasons for choosing a correctional career. We sought to (a) identify the reasons for choosing a correction career and determine whether these reasons differed from those identified in studies of police recruits, (b) determine whether race or gender played a role in career choice for correction officer candidates, and (c) evaluate the factor structure and psychometric validity of a scale that was previously used with police samples. Our results indicated that correction and police officer candidates diverge in terms of their reasons for seeking careers in law enforcement. Correction officer candidates placed greater importance on financial motivators, whereas police recruits indicated service as a primary factor in career choice. The scale demonstrated good initial estimates of psychometric validity, and the factor structure in the current sample differed from those found in studies with police recruits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Point of entry and functional impairment as predictors of treatment amount and cost for patients with mental illness and substance abuse disorders in Santa Barbara County Mental Health Services.
This study examines point of entry, functional impairment, comorbid diagnosis, and demographic variables as predictors of treatment amount and cost for patients with mental illness and substance abuse disorders in Santa Barbara County Mental Health Services. Overall, significant results were found for point of entry, with higher costs associated with mental health than chemical abuse point of entry. Furthermore, amount, modality, and cost of service varied widely across such variables as functional impairment with those rated as least impaired receiving the greatest amount of services at the greatest cost. Additional significant findings in treatment amount and cost are reported for variables such as homelessness, ethnicity, and age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)

Psychological Services - Vol 7, Iss 1