Ph.D. - Social Welfare

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https://hdl.handle.net/10125/2156

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 27
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    A Study of Immediate Sanction Effectiveness to Reduce New Conviction Post-Probation
    ([Honolulu] : [University of Hawaii at Manoa], [May 2016], 2016-05) Sensui, Leonard
    The criminal justice system’s attempt to reduce new conviction of drug using individuals, through incarceration, has increased the national prison population rate by 3.2% from 1.526 million in 2005 to 1.575 million in 2013; also, between 2001 and 2013, more than 50% of federal prisoners were convicted of drug charges (Rabinowitz & Lurigio, 2009; Carson, 2014). The average cost to incarcerate an individual in Hawai‘i is about $44,895 annually (Lawrence, 2016). Nationally, in order to reduce the prison population and the associated costs, more individuals were placed into probation supervision. Research has shown that first and second time offenders who received probation supervision instead of prison terms were less likely to recidivate (Rabinowitz & Lurigio, 2009). However, according to Mauer (1999), as probation caseloads increased, individual supervision time declined, which caused drug using violations and non-compliant behaviors to increase. In order to increase probationers’ compliance levels, the First Circuit Court in the county of Honolulu (O‘ahu) incorporated a probation supervision model based on the theory of operant conditioning. The model included motivational interviewing techniques (to increase probationers’ good behaviors) and incorporated immediate sanctions (to reprimand probationers’ noncompliant behaviors). This study analyzes factors related to new convictions and it includes comparisons of supervision outcome of probationers who began 5-years of probation supervision between the periods of January 2007 through December 2007. Probationers’ supervision outcomes and new convictions were examined until December 2014. The post-probation outcome of reducing new conviction was significantly effective when immediate sanction was employed as a supervision mechanism. This research may provide valuable information to the social work field to improve probationers’ compliance, drug treatment outcomes, and to increase public safety through the reduction in drug related crime.
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    An Examination of Predictors of Sexual Assault Mental Health Treatment Utilization in Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Caucasian Sexual Assault Survivors
    ([Honolulu] : [University of Hawaii at Manoa], [May 2016], 2016-05) Nelson, Dawna
    Many survivors of sexual assault experience detrimental effects as a result of the assault. Mental health treatment targeted towards sexual assault is a viable, but often underutilized resource for the treatment of posttraumatic stress symptoms post-assault. Unfortunately, there is a lack of information about what factors contribute to sexual assault mental health treatment utilization in diverse populations. The populations commonly examined in studies on treatment utilization are primarily Caucasian samples. Native Hawaiians and Asian Americans are commonly excluded from or misrepresented in research seeking to identify predictors of mental health treatment utilization. The purpose of the current study was to examine if factors theorized to predict treatment utilization in primarily Caucasian samples are equivalent and/or relevant in Asian American and Native Hawaiian groups. This is the first study to examine sexual assault service utilization using a sample inclusive of Caucasians, Asian Americans, and Native Hawaiians. Utilizing data from a community agency that serves survivors of sexual assault, I conducted a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis approach to explore factors theorized to predic treatment utilization. Overall, factors theorized to predict treatment utilization were not significant among the sample as a whole or by ethnic racial group. However, significant differences in trends related to treatment utilization were identified. Native Hawaiians used significantly fewer services than Asian Americans, emphasizing the importance of proper representation of these two unique ethnic/racial groups in research. Findings from this study have important implications for future research and practice in the field of social work.