University at Buffalo (UB)
Project Summary: The justice-involved population is a vulnerable group with complex physical and behavioral health conditions. Many of these individuals cannot address their health care needs, and do not know how to access social services. A person-centered approach is needed to help them manage their health, welfare, and become self-sufficient. The Healthy Outcomes Partnership & Education (HOPE) Program is a transition care management program that uses the Critical Time Intervention (CTI) model to engage justice-involved individuals, linking them to physical and mental health services, housing, and social support systems and thereby promoting self-sufficiency. The proposed study will examine whether the person-centered HOPE CTI approach improves participants’ self-sufficiency, and will explore participants' barriers and facilitators to achieving independent living. This is a community-based study that will employ mixed methods and incorporate qualitative interviews with participants to collect data not easily obtained through screens or questionnaires. The results will inform a larger, NIH-funded study.