Dr. Tedd McDonald, director of the Master of Health Science program and senior researcher for the Center for Health Policy, Dr. Sandina Begic, researcher and project manager for the Center for Health Policy, and Elsa Howard, Master of Health Science student and graduate research assistant for the Center for Health Policy, made a presentation titled “Fifth Year Evaluation of the Clinical Services Program” to the Idaho Juvenile Justice Commission in Boise on March 7.
The presentation documented the mental health and substance abuse problem’s prevalence among juveniles detained in Idaho’s 12 juvenile detention centers (JDCs), as well as stakeholders’ perceptions of the program. The research team also offered comparisons of the mental health and substance abuse problem’s prevalence rates for the last five years in Idaho’s JDCs, and made recommendations for helping juveniles with these problems to reduce the likelihood that they recidivate into the adult corrections system.