Reaching underserved youth: A pilot implementation of a skills-based intervention in short-term juvenile detention

Abstract

Despite a clear need, psychological interventions are lacking in detention facilities. In particular, efforts to implement such interventions in short-term juvenile detainment are virtually absent from scholarly literature. However, short-term juvenile detention facilities (JDFs) serve as important settings for intervention. Detained youth in JDFs present with a variety of charges/offenses, from truancy to murder and vary with regard to their history of contact with the system and the length of their detainment. The present study provides an overview of a brief skills-based intervention implemented in a group-based format with detained adolescents in a JDF, in an effort to examine youths’ engagement, buy-in, and perceived obstacles in such settings. Preliminary findings from our pilot intervention effort informed our understanding of youths’ engagement, buy-in, and perceived relevance and utility of the intervention.

Keywords:

• Delinquency
• Dialectical Behavior Therapy-informed
• intervention feasibility
• juvenile detention facilities
• mental health

Note

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank our community partners and youth who participated in this study.

Notes

1 Of the total 113 youths, most (n = 77; 68.1%) attended three or fewer groups. The total sample contains a few youths (n = 3) who attended more than three standard deviations above the mean number of sessions (i.e., 13 groups or more).