Jeffrey M. Jenson

Delinquency and Drug Abuse: Implications for Social Services

Recent studies have revealed common risk factors for adolescent drug abuse and delinquency. This evidence suggests that efforts to prevent adolescent substance abuse and chronic serious delinquency should target the same factors. The same interventions may decrease the risk of both of these forms of adolescent antisocial behavior. Further, given the high rates of drug use among delinquents, drug-abuse intervention and treatment programs are clearly needed for delinquent populations. This article explores the evidence linking adolescent drug use and delinquency, examines shared and distinguishing factors in the etiology of each, and discusses implications for prevention and treatment.

Clinical Practice Guidelines: Should Social Work Develop Them?

Guidelines for clinical practice have proliferated in recent years. Numerous studies indicate that guidelines can increase empirically based practice and improve clients’ outcomes. Guidelines for social work practice would also promote more informed client decision making, improve clinical training in schools of social work, encourage more cost-effective and accountable practice, and help codify current knowledge in controversial practice areas. The National Association of Social Workers should institute a guidelines development program and ensure that guidelines reflect traditional social work values and the best in available scientific evidence and practice experience.

Psychiatric symptoms and substance use among juvenile offenders: a latent profile investigation

The high rate of co-occurring mental health and substance abuse problems among antisocial and delinquent youth is a widely recognized problem in the juvenile justice system. Yet few studies have delineated meaningful clinical distinctions in the characteristics of offenders with co-occurring problems. Latent profile analysis was used to identify subgroups of juvenile offenders based on clinically relevant measures of psychiatric symptoms (including past traumatic experiences), lifetime substance use, and drug- and alcohol-related problems stemming from the use of psychoactive substances in a statewide population (n = 723). Findings revealed that a four-class solution fit the data optimally. The four classes identified represented a severity-based gradient of symptom and substance use endorsement ranging from a mild subgroup (n = 195; 27.0%), to moderately low ( n = 250; 34.6%) and high (n = 197; 27.2%) subgroups, and finally, a severely distressed subgroup (n = 81; 11.2%). Implications for identifying and treating young offenders with co-occurring mental health and substance abuse problems are noted.

Research Training in Social Work: The Continuum is Not a Continuum

From undergraduate to graduate course work, a continuum of training in research is supposed to undergird social work education. But does it? In this article, the authors review past practices and current trends in research education plus examples of research requirements from other disciplines. They define research scholarship, and explore conflicts regarding the import of research in social work and findings from recent studies of social work curricula. They discuss strategies for revitalizing research education and strengthening the continuum of research training in social work. These include eliminating redundancy in research curricula by diversifying master’s-level training and accelerating expectations for doctoral education.

Cluster Profiles Of Multiple Problem Youth Mental Health Problem Symptoms, Substance Use, and Delinquent Conduct

The prevalence and patterns of co-occurring mental health problem symptoms, substance use, and delinquent conduct were examined in a sample of multiple problem, detained youth. Three distinct patterns of co-occurrence were found using cluster analysis. Youth in two of the clusters had moderate mental health problems but differed in the severity of substance abuse and delinquent conduct. A third group displayed serious mental health symptoms and suicidality coinciding with high rates of substance use and crime.

American Juvenile Justice: Recent Trends and Issues in Youth Offending

Trends in juvenile offending in the United States since the 1970s are reviewed. Serious youth violence, co-occurring mental health and substance abuse problems among offenders, female delinquency, and other issues currently confronting the American juvenile justice system are examined. Policy considerations associated with recent trends in juvenile offending among American youth are identified.

Preventing Childhood Bullying: Findings and Lessons From the Denver Public Schools Trial

Twelve-month follow-up outcomes from a group-randomized trial (GRT) of a classroom curriculum aimed at preventing bullying and victimization among elementary students in the Denver, Colorado, public school system are presented. Twenty-eight elementary schools were randomly assigned to receive selected modules of Youth Matters (YM), a skills-training curriculum that targets bullying and victimization, or to a no-treatment control group. Linear growth models were fitted to five waves of data collected over 3 years to test the effect of the intervention on the rate of change in self-reported bullying and victimization. Participation in YM was associated with a 7% decline in bully victimization 1 year after the intervention ended. Practice and methodological challenges encountered in the investigation are discussed in the larger context of intervention research in school settings. Strategies to increase school-based intervention research by social work investigators are outlined.

Evidence-Based Practice and the Reform of Social Work Education: A Response to Gambrill and Howard and Allen-Meares.

In this report, the author responds to papers by Gambrill and by Howard and Allen-Meares that call for significant pedagogical reforms in social work education based on principles of evidence-based practice (EBP). His remarks focus on the promise of EBP as an agent of broad-based reform in social work education and on the implementation of EBP principles in the social work curriculum. Additional recommendations regarding the application of EBP principles to educational reform and teaching are identified.

Women and Substance Abuse: Implications for Treatment

Until the, past decade, research related to womens patterns of substance abuse has rarely been reported. Although womens rates of substance use and abuse are generally lower than mens, the social, psychological, physiological and economic effects of substance abuse in women are particularly severe. This paper reviews patterns of substance abuse unique to women and examines their implications for treatment of women. Recommendations include revision of program and reimbursement policies and development of gender-sensitive assessment and intervention protocols. It is suggested that advocacy, parent training, and concrete, medical and vocational services be incorporated into treatment programming for female substance abusers.

Revisioning social work clinical education: recent developments in relation to evidence-based practice.

An evidence-based practice (EBP) movement is underway in social work that promises to change the very nature and methods of clinical education and practice. Growing demands for accountability, increasingly sophisticated clients, heightened threats of malpractice liability, and a host of additional factors arising within and external to the profession have contributed to the growth of EBP. This review examines indices of the growing influence of EBP, reasons for the emergence of EBP, misgivings about and potentially positive features of EBP, and examines one school of social works efforts to implement an evidence-based clinical practice curriculum. It is important that clinicians be aware of current developments in relation to evidence-based clinical education and practice as these will likely significantly shape the face of social work direct practice in the coming years.