Honors Thesis Archive
| Author | Ashley Brooks |
|---|---|
| Title | Probation Programming’s Use of Assessment and Its Effect on Youth Outcomes |
| Department | Psychology |
| Advisor | Stephanie Little |
| Year | 2022 |
| Honors | University Honors |
| Full Text | View Thesis (435 KB) |
| Abstract | The purpose of this study was to evaluate Clark County Juvenile Court’s intensive probation units on the level of implementation of their intake assessments, especially the Juvenile Inventory for Functioning (JIFF), which assesses areas of risk from the youth and caregiver perspective. The study also evaluated the effectiveness of probation case plans regarding goal planning based off the JIFF intake assessment results. The research consisted of a data analysis, along with a content analysis to evaluate the level of the JIFF assessment being connected to probation officers’ goal planning. Sample consisted of 31 youth who were between 13-18 years old. There were 26 males (84%) and 5 females (16%). Participants were enrolled in one of three intensive probation units: general (n=20), mental health (n = 5), or substance use (n = 6). Only 58% of youth had completed a JIFF assessment, with only 48% of youth having a caregiver who also completed a JIFF assessment. The highest percentage of JIFF connections to an area of goal planning was for educational goals at 74%. Results showed that when caregivers, but not youth, reported more areas of concern on the JIFF, more JIFF-connected goals were set by the probation officers. The safety goal section of the case plan was found have a large effect size for increasing the amount of days till recidivating while on intensive probation. These findings suggest that using the JIFF assessment to plan probation goals could benefit youth in Clark County’s Juvenile Court. |
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