A National Cost Analysis of Community Interventions to Prevent Underage Drinking and Prescription Drug Misuse.

This prospective cost analysis addresses a gap in the prevention literature by providing estimates of the typical real-world costs to implement community interventions focused on preventing underage drinking and prescription drug misuse. The study uses cost data reported by more than 400 community subrecipients participating in a national cross-site evaluation of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Strategic Prevention Framework Partnerships for Success grant program during 2013-2017. Community subrecipient organizations completed an annual Web-based survey to report their intervention costs. The analysis compares the relative startup and annual ongoing implementation costs of different prevention strategies and services. Partnerships for Success communities implemented a wide variety of interventions. Annual ongoing implementation was typically more costly than intervention startup. Costs were generally similar for population-level interventions, such as information dissemination and environmental strategies, and individual-level interventions, such as prevention education and positive alternative activities. However, population-level interventions reached considerably more people and consequently had much lower costs per person. Personnel contributed the most to intervention costs, followed by intervention supplies and overhead. Startup costs for initial training and costs for incentives, ongoing training, and in-kind contributions (nonlabor) during ongoing implementation were not typically reported. This study informs prevention planning by providing detailed information about the costs of classes of interventions used in communities, outside of research settings.

Spiritual and religious identities predict the use of complementary and alternative medicine among US adults.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether spiritual and religious identities predict complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use above and beyond other known influences such as gender, region of residence, social status, personality, health, and access to conventional medicine. METHODS: Analyzing data from the 1995-1996 National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (n=3032), this study examines the correlations between four aspects of spirituality/religiousness-i.e., spiritual only, religious only, both spiritual and religious, and neither spiritual nor religious-and six measures of CAM. RESULTS: Compared with spiritual only persons, the odds of using energy therapies are 86% lower for spiritual and religious persons, 65% lower for religious only persons, and 52% lower for neither spiritual nor religious persons. Compared to spiritual only persons, spiritual and religious individuals are 43% more likely to use body-mind therapies in general; however, when this category does not contain prayer, meditation, or spiritual healing, they are 44% less likely. Religious only individuals are disinclined toward CAM use. CONCLUSIONS: After controlling for established predictors including educational attainment, personality, social support, and access to conventional medicine, the present study demonstrates that spirituality and religiousness are associated, in unique ways, with CAM use. Additional research on this topic is clearly warranted.

Resumption of smoking after release from a tobacco-free correctional facility.

Approximately 70% of incarcerated people smoke tobacco, and an estimated 12% of all smokers in the United States leave correctional facilities annually. Many facilities prohibit smoking, but no published study has measured the relapse to tobacco after release. In a study of 200 people with chronic health conditions reentering the community from jail, 165 (83%) were cigarette smokers. Of these, 129 were interviewed at 1 and/or 6 months after release. Self-reported sustained abstinence rates were 37.3% at the end of the first day, 17.7% for the first week, 13.7% for 1 month, and 3.1% for 6 months. These abstinence rates are lower than those reported after military basic training and medical hospitalization but similar to rates after inpatient psychiatric and addiction programs. More efforts and resources are needed to determine successful tobacco cessation interventions during incarceration and after release.

Tuberculosis prevention and control in large jails: a challenge to tuberculosis elimination.

BACKGROUND: This study assessed the extent to which 20 large jail systems have implemented national recommendations for tuberculosis (TB) prevention and control in correctional facilities. METHODS: Data were collected through questionnaires to jail medical directors and TB control directors, observation at the jails, and abstraction of medical records of inmates with TB disease and latent TB infection. RESULTS: Twenty percent of jail systems (4/20) had conducted an assessment of risk for TB transmission in their facilities, and 55% (11/20) monitored tuberculin skin test conversions of inmates and staff. Sixty-five percent (13/20) of jails had an aggregate record-keeping system for tracking TB status and treatment, which was usually paper based. Forty-five percent of jails (9/20) had policies to offer HIV counseling and testing to tuberculin skin test-positive patients, and 75% (15/20) screen HIV-infected inmates with chest radiographs. Three quarters of jails (15/20) had policies to always isolate patients with suspected or confirmed pulmonary TB in an airborne infection isolation room. Half of jails with airborne infection isolation rooms (6/12) conformed to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines for monitoring negative pressure. CONCLUSIONS: Improvements are needed in conducting TB risk assessments and evaluations to determine priorities and reduce risk of transmission. Inadequate medical information systems are impeding TB control and evaluation efforts. Although HIV infection is the greatest cofactor for development of TB disease, jails have inadequate information on patients' HIV status to make informed decisions in screening and management of TB and latent TB infection. Jails need to improve the use of environmental controls.

Public health and correctional collaboration in tuberculosis control.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the extent that 20 large jail systems and their respective public health departments collaborate to prevent and control tuberculosis (TB). METHODS: Data were collected through questionnaires sent to jail medical directors and TB control directors, interviews, and on-site observation in each of the jails. RESULTS: Only 35% of jail systems and health departments reported having effective collaboration in TB prevention and control activities. Four barriers were reported by a majority of the jail systems: funding (65%), staffing (60%), staff training (55%), and communication (55%). Lack of advance notice of a patient's release was rated as the greatest barrier to discharge planning. Fifty percent of the jail systems reported that they scheduled appointments for soon-to-be released patients with TB, and 10% did so for patients being treated for latent TB infection (LTBI). Fewer patients actually received appointments: seven (39%) of 33 released patients with TB had documentation in their medical record of appointments, and one of 46 released patients on treatment for LTBI had them. Characteristics associated with increased collaboration include having designated liaisons between jail systems and health departments and holding periodic meetings of staff. CONCLUSIONS: Health departments and jail systems in the same jurisdiction have implemented recommendations regarding collaboration to a limited extent. Such collaborations need strengthening, especially discharge planning and evaluation of TB control activities.

Assessment of tuberculosis screening and management practices of large jail systems.

OBJECTIVE: This descriptive study sought to explore the use and timeliness of tuberculosis (TB) screening and management activities in jail facilities. METHODS: Study personnel visited 20 large U.S. jail systems and reviewed the medical records of 56 inmates who had recently been evaluated for TB disease and 376 inmates who were diagnosed with or confirmed to have latent TB infection (LTBI). Data from these records were analyzed to determine completion and timeliness of screening, diagnostic, and treatment activities. RESULTS: In 14% of 56 inmates evaluated for TB disease and 24% of 376 inmates with LTBI, chest radiographs were either not performed or not documented. Of 48 inmates evaluated for TB disease who were not receiving treatment when admitted to jail, 10 had no record of sputum collection being done. A mean delay of 3.1 days occurred from symptom report to respiratory isolation. Time from tuberculin skin test reading to chest radiograph reading was a mean of 5.3 days in inmates evaluated for TB disease and a mean of 7.0 days in inmates with LTBI. Follow-up was arranged for 91% of released inmates who were on treatment for TB disease and only 17% of released inmates who were on treatment for LTBI. CONCLUSIONS: Jail health information systems should be augmented to better document and monitor inmate health care related to TB. Completion rates and timeliness of TB screening, diagnostic, and treatment measures should be evaluated to identify areas needing improvement. Finally, mechanisms for continuity of care upon inmate release should be enhanced to promote therapy completion and prevent TB transmission in the community.