Effects of a strategy to improve offender assessment practices: Staff perceptions of implementation outcomes

•An intervention to improve assessment for drug-involved offenders was tested.•Outcomes included Measurement/Instrumentation and Case Plan Integration.•Evidence-based assessment practices in correctional systems were improved.•Stronger effects were obtained for intra- than inter-agency outcomes.

BackgroundThis implementation study examined the impact of an organizational process improvement intervention (OPII) on a continuum of evidence based practices related to assessment and community reentry of drug-involved offenders: Measurement/Instrumentation, Case Plan Integration, Conveyance/Utility, and Service Activation/Delivery.MethodsTo assess implementation outcomes (staff perceptions of evidence-based assessment practices), a survey was administered to correctional and treatment staff (n = 1509) at 21 sites randomly assigned to an Early- or Delayed-Start condition. Hierarchical linear models with repeated measures were used to examine changes in evidence-based assessment practices over time, and organizational characteristics were examined as covariates to control for differences across the 21 research sites.ResultsResults demonstrated significant intervention and sustainability effects for three of the four assessment domains examined, although stronger effects were obtained for intra- than inter-agency outcomes. No significant effects were found for Conveyance/Utility.ConclusionsImplementation interventions such as the OPII represent an important tool to enhance the use of evidence-based assessment practices in large and diverse correctional systems. Intra-agency assessment activities that were more directly under the control of correctional agencies were implemented most effectively. Activities in domains that required cross-systems collaboration were not as successfully implemented, although longer follow-up periods might afford detection of stronger effects.