title: Twelve-month employment intervention outcomes for drug-involved offenders.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Employment has been identified as an important part of substance abuse treatment and is a predictor of treatment retention, treatment completion, and decreased relapse. Although employment interventions have been designed for substance abusers, few interventions have focused specifically on drug-involved offenders.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to examine employment outcomes for drug-involved offenders who received a tailored employment intervention.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a randomized controlled trial, baseline and follow-up data were collected from 500 drug-involved offenders who were enrolled in a drug court program. Participants were randomly assigned to drug court as usual (control group) or to the employment intervention in addition to drug court.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Intent-to-treat analyses found that the tailored intervention was associated only with more days of paid employment at follow-up (210.1 vs. 199.9 days). When focusing on those with greater employment assistance needs, a work trajectory analyses, which took into account participants' pre-baseline employment pattern (negative or positive), revealed that intervention group participants had higher rates of employment (82.1% vs. 64.1%), more days paid for employment (188.9 vs. 157.0 days), and more employment income ($8623 vs. $6888) at follow-up than control group participants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study adds to the growing substance abuse and employment literature. It demonstrates the efficacy of an innovative employment intervention tailored for drug-involved offenders by showing positive changes in 12-month employment outcomes, most strongly for those who have not had recent employment success.
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Science .
authors.forename: J Matthew
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Webster
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Staton-Tindall
authors.forename: Megan F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Dickson
authors.forename: John F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: Carl G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Leukefeld
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D057237:Criminals / Q000523:psychology*; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D055815:Young Adult