Date Presented 04/21/2023
We will present the results from a long-term process evaluation of the Occupational Therapy Transition and Integration Services (OTTIS) reentry program. Lessons learned will be explored with examples of how the program has evolved over the past 4.5 years, working with people who are incarcerated.
Primary Author and Speaker: Lisa Jaegers
Additional Authors and Speakers: Christine Picker, Mackenzie Murphy
Contributing Authors: Karen Barney
PURPOSE: In 2020 there were 5.5 million people held in adult correctional institutions including jails and prisons (1). The roles, habits, and routines of people in carceral settings is essential to addressing occupational performance goals for community living. The purposes of this project were to follow-up with the one-year process evaluation of the Occupational Therapy Transition and Integration Services (OTTIS) program and to inform the profession’s work in this emerging practice area (2,3).
DESIGN: We performed an exploratory process evaluation study (4) of the OTTIS program from the past 4.5 years.
METHODS: Clients at Midwest U.S. jails and prisons participated in the OTTIS program for at least 6 weeks to develop a plan for reentry goals and engage in skilled OT interventions. We performed records review to determine the general characteristics of clients, if they completed pre-release services while in jail or prison, and if they engaged in post-release community OT. Descriptive statistics and qualitative coding with thematic analysis were used to summarize findings.
RESULTS: A total of 142 clients completed an initial intake and OT assessment from January, 2017 and July, 2021; 79.6% were recruited from jails and 54.2% of clients were classified as male. 59.9% completed pre-release OTTIS and 43.7% engaged with OTTIS upon reentry to the community while 19.7% were not yet released. Of those who completed pre-release OTTIS, 64.7% continued engagement post-release, 27.1% were still serving time or sent to other facilities; and 8.2% did not engage for other reasons. Themes of engaged clients included returning as a peer mentor and obtaining employment within 72 hours of release.
CONCLUSION: This follow-up to our one-year process evaluation shows program engagement is strong despite the major challenge of unknown release dates from jail impacting client program completion. Additional lessons learned will be explored with examples of how the program has evolved over the past 4.5 years.
References
Bureau of Justice Statistics, Correctional Populations in the United States, 2020 – Statistical Tables (NCJ 303184, BJS, March 2022). Retrieved from: https://bjs.ojp.gov/?tid=11&ty=tp
Jaegers, L. A., Skinner, E., Conners, B., Hayes, C., West-Bruce, S., Vaughn, M. G., Smith, D. & Barney, K. F. (2020). Evaluation of the jail-based occupational therapy transition and integration services program for community reentry. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 74, 7403205030. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2020.035287
Jaegers, L. A., Barney, K. F., & Aldrich, R. M. (2019). The role of occupational science and occupational therapy in the juvenile justice system. In M. G. Vaughn, C. P. Salas-Wright, & D. B. Jackson (Eds.), Routledge international handbook of delinquency and health (pp. 291–304). New York, NY: Taylor and Francis.
Linnan, L. & Steckler, A. (2002). Process evaluation for public health interventions and research: An overview. In A. Steckler. & L. Linnan (Eds.), Process evaluation for public health interventions and research (p. 1–24). San Francisco, CA: Jossey–Bass. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2003.09.006
