Women's Offender Reentry Evaluation Services

The Kentucky Department of Corrections (DOC), in conjunction with Chrysalis House, Inc. and the Hope Center Recovery Program for Women, applied for and received funding from the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration Center on Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) to provide comprehensive services for substance abusing women offenders in transition from prison to the community, including outreach and engagement services, substance abuse treatment, and wraparound services, including health care, linkages to permanent housing, education, employment services, and family services. To fulfill the evaluation requirements for this CSAT grant, the Kentucky DOC contracted with the University of Kentucky College of Social Work to conduct yearly process and outcome evaluations for each of the three years of the grant. The evaluation has three primary objectives: (1) To describe client characteristics associated with project completers and project non-completers; (2) To examine short-term and long-term project outcomes based on intensity and duration of treatment; and (3) To complete an annual process evaluation to determine program contextual factors which may influence treatment outcomes. The evaluation approach can be described as a pre/post test design. Baseline data will be collected from women as they enter services at the Chrysalis House and the Hope Center Recovery Program for Women, and will be supplemented with data collection (both process and outcome) while women receive treatment, and at 6-month follow-up for the outcome evaluation. This evaluation complies with Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) data that includes, but is not limited to, collecting client outcomes at 6 months and at treatment termination.