The Impact of COVID-19 on Community-based Juvenile Service Aid Programs

The Community-based Juvenile Services Aid Division (CBA) is a program funded by the Nebraska legislature and housed within the Nebraska Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice (NCC). The guiding statute requires that funds be used for programs and services that divert youth from the juvenile justice system. The overarching aim is to effectively intervene with youth while they are in the community, and thereby reduce youth going to court or being placed in juvenile detention. To assess the efficacy of the interventions, the legislature allocated 10% of the fund for the development of a common data set and an evaluation of the effectiveness of the CBA program. The common dataset is currently maintained by the NCC; evaluation of effectiveness of programs is conducted by the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Juvenile Justice Institute (JJI). The goal of collecting data in a common dataset is to have comparable measures across the state and to help programs determine if they are effectively keeping youth out of the system. For the past three fiscal years (July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2021), the number of funded programs has remained fairly consistent, although the types of programs being funded have fluctuated some (see Figures 1 and 2 below). Although the chart below appears to show an increase in programming, this is because programs receiving funding through the Juvenile Services Commission Grant Program (JS) also began entering youth data into the common dataset for FY 20/21

From Playboy to Prison: When Pornography Use Becomes a Crime

This study explores pornography use across the lifespan for a sample of registrants convicted of child pornography related offenses. We conducted qualitative life history interviews with nine offenders to examine how offender, victim, and situational factors interact to produce pornography related criminal events. Using a hybrid analytic approach, themes related to persistence in pornography use and the social acceptability of pornography are identified. These themes relate to transitions from legal pornography use to illegal child pornography possession

The Americanization of Karen Refugee Youth: Exploring Attitudes Toward and Use of Methamphetamine

Drug use among refugee populations is a concerning trend in many urban American cities. For instance, Omaha, Nebraska is home to an estimated 7,000 refugees from Myanmar, with at least 75% of those being Karen refugees. The purpose of this paper is to explore methamphetamine use among Karen adolescents in Omaha and to examine whether Karen youth bring their drug use habits with them from refugee camps or if they learn about drugs from their American peers. Two focus groups of Karen youth and two focus groups of Karen parents were conducted to examine methamphetamine use among this population. Findings suggest, like most youth, the Karen children were reluctant to disclose their own use of drugs, but they did see the use of methamphetamine and other drugs in their schools. It appears drug use among the Karen youth is acquired during the “Americanization” of these children in Omaha schools

Family Support Evaluation FY 2017-2021

Evidence-Based Nebraska. Family Support programs are prevention-focused efforts that seek to improve upon family function and communication through referrals and interactions with youth and families in Nebraska. Youth and families are referred for various reasons and community-based programs respond to these youth and family needs in a variety of ways, depending upon their individual needs and involve organizations throughout the community as needed. Through interviews with Family Support staff and directors, we learned that programs take different approaches to providing services to youth and families that are individualized to address emergent issues. Youth and families are commonly referred to the program due to behavioral concerns at home and school, poor school attendance behavior, mental health issues, and substance use. Referrals often come from probation and/or diversion, police department missing youth reports, and from schools or by word of mouth. Caseloads vary by program and most report having contact with one to four youth/families, two to three times a week. Most programs, 71%, use a risk assessment or screening tool to help assess youth and family needs to facilitate case planning. Further, program staff discussed challenges related to parent and youth participation (e.g., program engagement) and household constraints (e.g., transportation, supervision) as barriers to service delivery. Twelve out of 29 programs had sufficient cases to examine outcomes (at least 80% of their cases were discharged). Of these, there were high rates of youth successfully completing the program (or a neutral discharge, such as transferring schools). Nine of these 12 programs had sufficient data to examine either family function, family communication, or both (at least 80% of the data were complete and the sample size was greater than one), Family Support appears to be most successful for improving family function from intake to discharge (three programs improved scores), with slightly less success at improving family communication scores from intake to discharge (two programs improved scores). When examining future system involvement for the twelve programs we found that few youth has new status offense court filings, law violations, and detainment in a secure or staff secure facility following discharge from programming. Overall, 1.5% (n = 9) of youth had a new status offense court filing within one year after leaving a program, ranging from 0% - 8.3%. Slightly more, 5.4% (n = 33) had a new law violation within one year from program discharge, with a range of 0% - 25%. An overall total of 32 youth from this sample were detained in a facility following discharge from a program (5.2%), ranging from 0% - 40%

Annual Report 2020-2022: Evidence-based Nebraska Pre-and-Post Assessment Tool

This annual report is an evaluation of the effectiveness of Mental Health, Mentoring, Promotion/Prevention, School-based Interventions, and Afterschool programs funded by Community-based Aid (CBA). The program type analysis includes referrals to programs from July 1, 2020 – February 28, 2022, reported by programs to the Juvenile Case Management System (JCMS). This evaluation also includes data collected with the EB-NE Pre-and-post Assessment Tool co-created with Dr. Karina Blair at Boys Town Research Hospital

Baseline Needs Assessment for a Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program 1-Year Pilot

The objectives of the present study were to measure and describe the baseline participant needs of a hospital-based violence intervention 1-year pilot program, assess differences in expected hospital revenue based on changes in health insurance coverage resulting from program implementation and discuss the program’s limitations. Methods: Between September 2020 and September 2021 Encompass Omaha enrolled 36 participants. A content analysis of 1199 progress notes detailing points of contact with participants was performed to determine goal status. Goals were categorized and goal status was defined as met, in process, dropped, or participant refusal. Results: The most frequently identified needs were help obtaining short-term disability assistance or completing FMLA paperwork (86.11%), immediate financial aid (86.11%), legal aid (83.33%), access to food (83.3%), and navigating medical issues other than the primary reason for hospitalization (83.33%). Conclusions: Meeting the participants’ short-term needs is critical for maintaining their engagement in the long-term. Further, differences in expected hospital revenue for pilot participants compared with a control group were examined, and this analysis found a reduction in medical and facility costs for program participants. The pilot stage highlighted how complex the needs and treatment of victims of violence are. As the program grows and its staff become more knowledgeable about social work, treatment, and resource access processes, the program will continue to improve

Defense, Disrespect, and #Deadly: A Qualitative Exploration of Precursors to Youth Violence Informed Through Hospital-Based Violence Prevention Program Follow Up

Success of youth violence intervention and prevention effects, particularly for gun violence, will be enhanced when efforts are appropriately informed by the antecedents and context of violence. Youth violence is guided by social and cultural norms that are shifting with the rise of technology. Bullying, gang violence, and self-directed violence is increasingly found to occur in the online space influencing peer groups across contexts. Through focus groups with youth at risk for violence and victimization, this study finds three themes emerge as common precursors to violence: defense of self or others, disrespect of self or family occurring in traditional community-based interactions, and threats or disrespect occurring through social media platforms. Youth violence prevention programs should consider how using social cognitive intervention framework could build knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed for violence intervention and prevention informed by precursors to violence found in this analysis

School Absenteeism Guidebook for Program Development and Cultural Components

Programs across Nebraska have been working to reduce chronic absences and excessive absenteeism through targeted intervention and prevention strategies. This Guidebook is intended to assist communities in developing prevention and intervention strategies that fully address school absenteeism. In addition to outlining evidence-based responses to school absence, we looked specifically for programs that include a cultural competence component, or that have shown prior success in working with specific populations most at risk for excessive absenteeism. First, we present an overview of the risk factors for excessive absenteeism and potential negative outcomes associated with increased absences from school. In the second part of this report, we present information on current assessment strategies used in Nebraska and on the importance of matching services with level of need. Next, using data from the Nebraska Department of Education, we assess differences in attendance statewide to examine racial disparities in school attendance. The fourth part of this report measures the effectiveness of excessive absenteeism programs in Nebraska using data on school attendance prior to programming and while enrolled. The Juvenile Justice Institute (JJI) then calculated the percent change in attendance for these two time periods. For FY 2018-2019, there were a total of 21 funded programs addressing absenteeism through Communitybased Aid, the number of funded programs from 2019-2021 grew to 25. An additional five programs served youth through the diversion program. Approximately 3,120 youth participated in these programs and remained out of the juvenile justice system, for at least a short period of time. Program staff input the data needed to assess program effectiveness and should be commended for their efforts. Overall, 30 programs were able to input data sufficient for analyses (n=1,524 or 48.8%). Of those, 50% of programs (15 of the 30 programs) showed a statistically significant (p \u3c 0.05) improvement in attendance from pre-enrollment to enrollment for those who successfully completed programming. As statewide data from the Department of Education suggest some racial/ethnic groups were more likely to be absent compared to White students, we examined if there were significantly different outcomes for successful cases by race or ethnicity. While our findings do not suggest that one racial or ethnic group improved significant more than another, without accounting for any other factors, all racial or ethnic groups reported reductions in overall absences for those who successfully completed programming. Finally, we offer recommendations for programs moving forward to help them meet the challenges they face as they work to improve school attendance. Challenges related to data collection and reporting continue to present problems for programs and analyses. Further, the COVID-19 pandemic presented additional difficulties as programs remained committed to monitoring attendance and offering intervention strategies to target excessive absenteeism during virtual schooling. Although this guidebook utilized data from pre-enrollment to enrollment, we hope to add postenrollment data in the future once more data are available. JJI remains committed to improving data collection through improvements to the JCMS and continued training for program staff

γδ T Cells Are Reduced and Rendered Unresponsive by Hyperglycemia and Chronic TNFα in Mouse Models of Obesity and Metabolic Disease

Epithelial cells provide an initial line of defense against damage and pathogens in barrier tissues such as the skin; however this balance is disrupted in obesity and metabolic disease. Skin γδ T cells recognize epithelial damage, and release cytokines and growth factors that facilitate wound repair. We report here that hyperglycemia results in impaired skin γδ T cell proliferation due to altered STAT5 signaling, ultimately resulting in half the number of γδ T cells populating the epidermis. Skin γδ T cells that overcome this hyperglycemic state are unresponsive to epithelial cell damage due to chronic inflammatory mediators, including TNFα. Cytokine and growth factor production at the site of tissue damage was partially restored by administering neutralizing TNFα antibodies in vivo. Thus, metabolic disease negatively impacts homeostasis and functionality of skin γδ T cells, rendering host defense mechanisms vulnerable to injury and infection

Comprehensive molecular characterization of gastric adenocarcinoma

Gastric cancer is a leading cause of cancer deaths, but analysis of its molecular and clinical characteristics has been complicated by histological and aetiological heterogeneity. Here we describe a comprehensive molecular evaluation of 295 primary gastric adenocarcinomas as part of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project. We propose a molecular classification dividing gastric cancer into four subtypes: tumours positive for Epstein–Barr virus, which display recurrent PIK3CA mutations, extreme DNA hypermethylation, and amplification of JAK2, CD274 (also known as PD-L1) and PDCD1LG2 (also knownasPD-L2); microsatellite unstable tumours, which show elevated mutation rates, including mutations of genes encoding targetable oncogenic signalling proteins; genomically stable tumours, which are enriched for the diffuse histological variant and mutations of RHOA or fusions involving RHO-family GTPase-activating proteins; and tumours with chromosomal instability, which show marked aneuploidy and focal amplification of receptor tyrosine kinases. Identification of these subtypes provides a roadmap for patient stratification and trials of targeted therapies