Author ORCID Identifier
Date Available
4-24-2019
Year of Publication
2019
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
College
Arts and Sciences
Department/School/Program
Sociology
First Advisor
Dr. Carrie Oser
Abstract
The public health crisis surrounding opioid use is pronounced among justice-involved populations, who face high rates of overdose mortality as well as HIV, and hepatitis C due to injection drug use. The majority of opioid-related overdoses are due to polysubstance use (PSU), and a better understanding of the prevalence and patterns of PSU are necessary in order to inform interventions. This dissertation project has three aims: (1) understand the patterns of opioid PSU among a justice-involved population, (2) identify PSU patterns most at-risk for post-release relapse, and (3) examine engagement in post-release health service utilization. Post-release aims are guided by the Gelberg Behavioral Model of Vulnerable Populations.
This project utilizes secondary data from the Criminal Justice Kentucky Treatment Outcome Study, a Kentucky Department of Corrections funded two-wave longitudinal study of individuals who participated in substance abuse treatment programming while incarcerated. Latent profile analysis is used to determine the patterns of pre-incarceration opioid PSU in aim 1. Analyses for aims 2 and 3 examine PSU profiles, along with variables drawn from the Behavioral Model for Vulnerable Populations, in order to predict important reentry outcomes of relapse and health service utilization 12-months post-release in a series of logistic regressions.
Six unique profiles of opioid PSU were found among the current justice-involved population, which faced disproportionate risk of adverse outcomes at follow-up. Findings indicate heterogeneity of opioid use among a justice-involved population. The role of mental and physical health in PSU severity is also highlighted. Further, results from post-release analyses indicate that a continuum of risk exists among PSU such that PSU patterns are unique and important predictors of post-release outcomes which can be used to inform interventions during incarceration. The importance of accounting for vulnerability as conceptualized in the Behavioral Model for Vulnerable Populations is also discussed.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2019.171
Funding Information
NIDA T32DA035200
Recommended Citation
Bunting, Amanda Marie, "POLYSUBSTANCE OPIOID USE IN A JUSTICE-INVOLVED POPULATION: AN ANALYSIS OF PATTERNS AND REENTRY OUTCOMES" (2019). Theses and Dissertations--Sociology. 42.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/sociology_etds/42
