Brown v. Plata: Prison Overcrowding in California.

Brown v. Plata: Prison Overcrowding in California.

Filed under: Rehab Centers

J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2012; 40(4): 547-52
Newman WJ, Scott CL

California’s prisons are currently designed to house approximately 85,000 inmates. At the time of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2011 decision in Brown v. Plata, the California prison system housed nearly twice that many (approximately 156,000 inmates). The Supreme Court held that California’s prison system violated inmates’ Eighth Amendment rights. The Court upheld a three-judge panel’s order to decrease the population of California’s prisons by an estimated 46,000 inmates. They determined that overcrowding was the primary cause of the inmates’ inadequate medical and mental health care. As a result, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has been working to redistribute inmates and parolees safely and decrease the overall population to the mandated levels. These large-scale adjustments to California’s penal system create potential opportunities to study the long-term effects on affected inmates.
HubMed – rehab

[A Systematic Review of the Predictors of Return to Work Following Vocational Retraining.]

Filed under: Rehab Centers

Rehabilitation (Stuttg). 2012 Dec 11;
Streibelt M, Egner U

Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) is an essential element of interventions aimed at re-integrating people with work disability into work. In this context, vocational retraining is of special importance. However, the success of vocational retraining, represented by subsequent returning to work (RTW), is only to a limited extent attributable to intervention quality. Apart from methodical influences participant-related as well as context-related attributes are discussed as influencing factors. To know these RTW predictors is a necessary condition for a valid comparative evaluation of intervention quality.A structured literature search was conducted. All studies meeting the following criteria were included: publication between 2006 and 2011; context: German rehabilitation system and vocational retraining; multivariate analysis of RTW predictors. The evidence for or against the influence of a predictor was rated as strong if more than 75% of the models, and moderate if more than 50% of the models reported or excluded a significant relationship between predictor and RTW. All predictors included in more than 2 studies were considered in this review.15 publications from 6 studies were included in the analysis. Due to differentiation of the models between different types of retraining the evidence was based on 9 prediction models. Strong evidence of an effect on RTW can be assumed for income before admission, subjective health rating and regular completion of retraining. There is moderate evidence for an effect of age and target job. Strong evidence against an effect on RTW is found for employment and occupational status before admission. There is moderate evidence against an RTW effect of sex, education and locus of control. Ambiguous evidence is obtained for the local job market, the type of retraining, social support and mobility.For the first time the review provides findings on the relevant influence factors of RTW following vocational retraining. These findings on the one hand could lead to an advance of intervention quality due to consideration of special personal and/or environmental factors. On the other hand there still remains an undeniable lack of information in this field. There is a special need for studies capable of confirming previous findings or of clarifying known uncertainties in the available evidence.
HubMed – rehab

[Rehabilitation Counselors’ Vocational Fields of Activity: Empirical Findings of an Exploratory Study in Germany.]

Filed under: Rehab Centers

Rehabilitation (Stuttg). 2012 Dec 11;
Niehaus M, Marfels B, Bauer J

In the light of far-reaching demographic and sociopolitical changes, the demand for rehabilitation counseling experts increases. Internationally scientific research has long recognised the importance of professional support for successful vocational rehabilitation of people with illnesses and disabilities. In Germany, however, there has been a lack of systematic research in this field. The present exploratory study aims to fill this gap by investigating the status quo of rehabilitation counselors’ vocational fields of activity in Germany.The study was conducted anonymously as an online-survey. An international questionnaire which covers a wide range of tasks that can play a role in the day-to-day work of rehabilitation counseling experts was used. Within the project it was translated into German and adapted to the German rehabilitation system. 217 rehabilitation counselors completed the survey. Socio-demographic information and information concerning the participant’s working biography were evaluated descriptively. To analyze the questionnaire data, principal component analysis was undertaken.The majority of respondents indicated to be performing tasks from different fields of activity in their daily routine. The essential and main field of activity though appeared to be the individual work with the client. Managerial tasks on an organizational level turned out to be less important. Furthermore, it became clear that the terms the respondents used to name their qualification and their current job title varied in a confusing way. This implicates that it was not always possible to infer from the job title of a person to their actual vocational tasks. Moreover, the participants expressed that they see a need for action concerning their vocational training as well as their professional tasks.German rehabilitation counseling experts can be characterized as “generalists” who cover different fields of activity in their daily routine. Their main activity is the individual work with the client while managerial tasks play a lesser role yet. A further differentiation of the vocational tasks indicating a higher degree of specialization as it can be found in related American or Australian studies does not emerge. The take-over of managerial tasks on an organizational level is not necessarily associated with the use of the term “management” in a person’s job title. These results can be explained partly by the relatively new sociopolitical changes in Germany. These changes include the introduction of a regulation in 2004 (§?84 Social Code Book), which obliges employers to prevent and manage disability at the company level. Still different studies show various problems concerning the comprehensive implementation of this regulation. The participants see urgent needs for action concerning the clarification of structures and responsibilities in their companies as well as more networking and a better publicity for their profession. With regards to the training, respondents desired more practical exercises and case studies. Further research in this field is needed.
HubMed – rehab

[Development of Methods and Instruments for External Quality Assurance in Inpatient Parent-Child Rehabilitation and Prevention.]

Filed under: Rehab Centers

Rehabilitation (Stuttg). 2012 Dec 11;
Neuderth S, Lukasczik M, Musekamp G, Gerlich C, Saupe-Heide M, Löbmann R, Vogel H

There so far is no standardized program for external quality assurance in inpatient parent-child prevention and rehabilitation in Germany. Therefore, instruments and methods of external quality assurance were developed and evaluated on behalf of the federal-level health insurance institutions.On the level of structure quality, a modular questionnaire for assessing structural features of rehabilitation/prevention centers, basic and allocation criteria as well as a checklist for visitations were developed. Structural data were collected in a nationwide survey of parent-child prevention and rehabilitation centers. Process and outcome quality data were collected in n=38 centers. Process quality was assessed using multiple methods (process-related structural features, case-related routine documentation, and incident-related patient questionnaires). Outcome quality was measured via patient questionnaires (n=1?799 patients). We used a multi-level modelling approach by adjusting relevant confounders on institutional and patient levels.The methods, instruments and analyzing procedures developed for measuring quality on the level of structure, processes and outcomes were adjusted in cooperation with all relevant stakeholders. Results are exemplarily presented for all quality assurance tools. For most of the risk-adjusted outcome parameters, we found no significant differences between institutions.For the first time, a comprehensive, standardized and generally applicable set of methods and instruments for routine use in comparative quality measurement of inpatient parent-child prevention and rehabilitation is available. However, it should be considered that the very heterogeneous field of family-oriented measures can not be covered entirely by an external quality assurance program. Therefore, methods and instruments have to be adapted continuously to the specifics of this area of health care and to new developments.
HubMed – rehab

More Rehab Centers Information…