Differential effectiveness of residential versus outpatient aftercare for parolees from prison-based therapeutic community treatment programs

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Research has indicated that more intense treatment is associated with better outcomes among clients who are appropriately matched to treatment intensity level based on the severity of their drug/alcohol problem. This study examined the differential effectiveness of community-based residential and outpatient treatment attended by male and female drug-involved parolees from prison-based therapeutic community substance abuse treatment programs based on the severity of their drug/alcohol problem.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Subjects were 4,165 male and female parolees who received prison-based therapeutic community substance abuse treatment and who subsequently participated in <it>only </it>outpatient or <it>only </it>residential treatment following release from prison. The dependent variable of interest was return to prison within 12 months. The primary independent variables of interest were alcohol/drug problem severity (low, high) and type of aftercare (residential, outpatient). Chi-square analyses were conducted to examine the differences in 12-month RTP rates between and within the two groups of parolees (residential and outpatient parolees) based on alcohol/drug problem severity (low severity, high severity). Logistic regression analyses were performed to determine if aftercare modality (outpatient only vs. residential only) was a significant predictor of 12-month RTP rates for subjects who were classified as low severity versus those who were classified as high severity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Subjects benefited equally from outpatient and residential aftercare, regardless of the severity of their drug/alcohol problem.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>As states and the federal prison system further expand prison-based treatment services, the demand and supply of aftercare treatment services will also increase. As this occurs, systems and policies governing the transitioning of individuals from prison- to community-based treatment should include a systematic and validated assessment of post-prison treatment needs and a valid and reliable means to assess the quality of community-based treatment services. They should also ensure that parolees experience a truly uninterrupted continuum of care through appropriate recognition of progress made in prison-based treatment.</p

The Relative Role of Perceived Partner Risks in Promoting Condom Use in a Three-City Sample of High-Risk, Low-Income Women

We examined the effect of women’s perceptions of sexual partner risks on condom use. Women from three US cities (n = 1,967) were recruited to provide data on HIV risks. In univariate models, increased odds of condom use were associated with perceiving that partners had concurrent partners and being unaware of partners': (a) HIV status, (b) bisexuality, (c) concurrency; and/or (d) injection drug use. In multivariate models, neither being unaware of the four partner risk factors nor perceiving a partner as being high risk was associated with condom use. Contextual factors associated with decreased odds of condom use were having sex with a main partner, homelessness in the past year, alcohol use during sex, and crack use in the past 30 days. Awareness of a partner’s risks may not be sufficient for increasing condom use. Contextual factors, sex with a main partner in particular, decrease condom use despite awareness of partner risk factors

O inca pano: mito, história e modelos etnológicos

Os mitos relativos ao Inca recolhidos na Amazônia entre vários grupos de língua pano têm sido entendidos como memórias de um passado remoto regido por uma aristocracia quechua ou como expressão de uma estrutura identitária ou cosmológica em que o Inca significaria o Branco ou uma alteridade celestial. Tais interpretações, apesar de seu valor heurístico, limitam nossa compreensão dos aspectos estruturais e históricos do Inca Pano. Propõe-se aqui entender o Inca também como um símbolo eficiente, vinculado a modelos sociológicos e/ou artísticos de alto valor distintivo: povos como os Shipibo-Conibo e os Kaxinawá cristalizam em torno dessa figura uma tradição que os destaca do conjunto dos grupos nawa vizinhos.<br>The Amazonian myths collected among certain Panoan-speaking peoples which make reference to the Inca figure have generally been subject to one of two interpretations. They are either seen to recall a remote past in which these peoples may have been ruled by Quechua aristocrats or they are seen to be structural aspects of identity or cosmology, in which the Inca would be representative of the White man or of some celestial alterity. These interpretations, in spite of their heuristic value, serve to limit our understanding of structural and historical aspects of the Pano Inca. This article proposes that we also try to understand the Pano Inca as an effective symbol, related to social and/or artistic models with their own distinctive values: people such as the Shipibo-Conibo and the Kaxinawa have shaped around this figure a tradition which sets them apart from the neighbouring Nawa groups