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Impact of Relationship Quality and Recovery Attitudes on Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use among Emerging Adults
Get PDFOver 9 million Americans above 11 years old misused opioids in the last year, with the largest portion (1.4 million) of those individuals being in the young adult (i.e., 18-25 years old) range (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA], 2021). The concept of recovery has been defined as the overall experience, encapsulating both the process and status of voluntarily using resources (i.e., recovery capital) to heal physically and psychologically (White, 2007). Literature of recovery capital in young/emerging adulthood suggests recovery capital may be even more important for the emerging adult population (Elswick et al., 2018; Mawson et al., 2015; Terrion, 2013). The present study examined the dynamic connection between severity of opioid use and aspects of recovery capital (i.e., recovery attitudes and relationship quality) in a sample of emerging adults receiving medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD). Recovery attitudes were found to buffer the association between initial opioid use and days of use during the study. Recovery attitudes were also observed to change over time, though not in a uniform direction. Findings regarding relationship quality approached significance. This study added to the literature of recovery capital and emerging adults by examining factors that are particularly important for this developmental stage. It also explored novel findings on recovery attitudes for emerging adults with opioid use, particularly in early recovery. Further research is needed with larger samples to replicate and expand the findings of the present study
Measurement Invariance of the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory Among Adjudicated Youth
Get PDFThe majority of the research on psychopathy has been conducted in adults, however, over the last several decades, researchers have become increasingly interested in the presentation of psychopathic traits in children and adolescents. Within the last two decades, the use of self-report measures has grown substantially, with the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI) quickly raising in popularity and availability. In more recent years, a growing body of work has been dedicated to investigating and examining to what extent latent dimensions of psychopathy generalize to different ethnicities, cultures, and sexual orientations. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the factor structure of the YPI in a sample of male and female juvenile offenders, examining the extent in which adult representations of the latent factor structure of psychopathy is replicated with an adolescent sample. Additionally, measurement invariance for sex/gender (male and female) and ethnicity (Black, White, and Hispanic) was examined. A confirmatory factor analysis supported a three-factor model of psychopathy fits the YPI best. Results showed that sex/gender was supported through metric invariance. Invariance analysis for ethnicity revealed only configural invariance was supported across all three ethnicities. Partial metric invariance was supported for White and Hispanic comparisons and Black and Hispanic comparisons. Scalar invariance was not supported for across any of the ethnicities. Overall, the conclusion is that the YPI is useful at broadly detecting three dominant dimensions of psychopathy (interpersonal, behavioral, and affective dimensions) and appears to be interpreted consistently across groups of adolescents for the most part
Prioritizing Emergency Preparedness
Get PDFIn the aftermath of 9/11 and other high-profile events, and because of the unpredictability of future critical incidents, many police agencies lack the adequate knowledge, awareness, skills, and resources necessary to respond to natural disasters, technological disasters, or acts of terrorism. Therefore, law enforcement agencies should be required to prioritize emergency preparedness to prevent, deter, and respond to future threats to ensure public safety. Prioritizing emergency preparedness enables policing agencies to organize, plan, equip, exercise, evaluate, and train to prevent, deter, and respond to future terroristic threats, pandemics, and natural disasters to ensure public safety. Scholars have suggested that continuous education and training are essential in emergency preparedness, in which NIMS/ICS gives police officers the necessary knowledge and tools for responding to critical events. Further, with over 18,000 police agencies in the US operating in a decentralized system, it is recommended that police agencies prioritize at least some form of emergency preparedness depending on the agency's operational needs and assessments. Studies show that most police agencies have the budget for emergency preparedness yet, should set priorities for whether the concentration will be on counterterrorism, natural disasters, criminal enterprises, or epidemics. Prioritizing emergency preparedness sets police agencies on a path of strengthening capabilities to manage any emergency, thus, bringing an orderly transition from relief to recovery.LEMI
Law Enforcement Agencies Should Implement a Physical Fitness Regimen on Shift
Get PDFPolice officers are generally in poorer health and less physically fit than members of the general population (Bissett, Bissett, and Snell, 2011). There are several benefits to improving the overall health of the law enforcement community. Ensuring that an officer is physically fit when initially employed does not, however, support the overall health of the officer throughout his or her career. Stinson (2000) found that while many departments do have physical fitness programs, most are voluntary, and very few have mandatory physical fitness programs. In addition to the economic impact of medical costs to agencies, there are also considerable costs related to the replacement of injured or lost officers as well. According to the research the approximate total cost of either replacing or supporting an injured officer can be upwards of $3,000,000. In addition to being generally healthier, it has been suggested that physically fit officers also exhibit better job performance, are more committed to the job, use less time off due to injury or illness, enjoy greater job satisfaction, are less stressed, and have greater psychological well-being than those who are less physically fit. Not only does an out of shape officer increase the probability of injury to himself and the community, but a department with no physical fitness training program, policies, or standards is potentially exposed to legal liability for resulting injuries (Boyce & Hiatt, 1992). Research has indicated that only a small percentage of veteran officers engage in physical training activities that are adequate to maintain entry-level requirements (Anderson, Cychosz, & Franke, 2003; Anderson et al., 2001).LEMI
Faculty Increasing Student Sense of Belonging through Connection to Campus Resources
No full textHigher education recognizes that student success requires a holistic approach that includes providing resources that directly and indirectly support students’ academic performance. Instructors can act as a mediator in linking students to those resources. Learn how intentionally connecting students in online courses to campus resources encourages a sense of belonging and can positively impact academic success
Providing Comprehensive Mental Health Services
No full textThe situation of mental health services being effectively provided to law enforcement employees is susceptible to mishandling for several reasons. Some stigmas surround the negative connotation of receiving such services that some believe can be career-ending and perceived as weak. In 2021 with S.B. No. 1359, legislation has been passed that requires entities to outline time off issues associated with work-related mental health assistance due to law enforcement interactions to calls for service. Departments have not effectively and efficiently provided these vital services to employees, which can significantly impact the employee’s well-being, and this shortcoming should be rectified. The work culture of law enforcement has not generally been supportive regarding mental health in the profession, potentially causing employees not to receive mental health services specific to the law enforcement field. Employees often encounter and dispose of situations that can be traumatic to the human mind. Upon receiving this trauma and the mind unable to cope with the resulting trauma, the employee is often left in despair and hesitant to seek assistance. Agencies must effectively and without judgment provide adequate services to all employees without delay.LEMI
Focusing on Police Officer Morale
No full textOfficer morale in law enforcement agencies across the nation suffers from low confidence in their agencies. This is significant because the communities they serve are directly affected by the customer service they are supposed to receive from their police officers. Agencies should focus more on officer morale to ensure the communities they serve receive the best customer service from highly motivated officers looking to go above and beyond their call of duty. The results of the “Ferguson effect,” individual supervisor management styles, community relations, and officers’ well-being were evaluated to dissect the root causes of low morale and discuss ways to counter the negativity by providing insights into this issue. The methodology gathered data from books, journals, news articles, and editorials. The findings suggest that low morale is linked to low productivity. Confidence was directly influenced by the police department’s immediate supervisor treatment and the manager’s attitude towards them. It has also been affected by negative media coverage and constant scrutiny from the public.LEMI
Violence Educators Face in the United States
No full textLimited research and analysis has been done regarding the instances of violence educators experience in their occupation. This project will consist of an extensive literature review of past studies that have examined the abuses and subsequent environmental stressors that educators face in schools. The focus will be to examine methods used in these studies and the responses gained. This project will identify the different offenses educators encounter and discuss relevant impacts towards educators. The goal of this project is to provide a better understanding about the physical and verbal violence educators across the country face and how it affects school environments
Law Enforcement Support Office (LESO-1033) Program
Get PDFThe DLA 1033 program has been a controversial subject since its inception in 1997. Many people fear that the use of equipment received from the 1033 program will make police more militarized. However, police departments struggle every year due to budget constraints and with equipment from the 1033 program agencies have a way to save their budgets for other programs and services. This equipment has been purchased with tax dollars and repurposing means that government waste is reduced. There have been many calls to cut police budgets or abolish police departments altogether. This has happened to many departments across the country, which has made it exceedingly difficult to protect and serve communities. There has been crime in most cities that have cut their police budgets. The opinion of some is that police will misuse military equipment. This is based on emotion and not facts. Police agencies should use acquired equipment to protect officers and accomplish mission objectives but also for the safety of citizens, like rescue operations. Police agencies need to reach out and interact as much as they can during community events and let people see firsthand the equipment that is used to protect them. Along with viewing the military equipment is the professionalism of every officer in the department. Officers need to remember that community fairs or parades may be the first-time adults and children have ever interacted with police. The benefits are clear that the Law Enforcement Support Office (LESO-1033 program) should be used by law enforcement to acquire needed equipment when funds may not be available and expand budgets for other services.LEMI
VIDEO AS A TOOL TO SUPPORT TEACHER PERFORMANCE EVALUATION PROCESS: IMPACT ON FIRST-YEAR TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS
Get PDFResearch indicates that teacher performance is a critical focus for school districts,
administrators, and teachers. Pre-service teacher preparation, teacher retention, job
satisfaction, mentoring, continuous feedback, and onboarding support for new teachers
are all factors that influence teacher performance (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond,
2017). While teacher performance evaluations occur in all districts, the evaluation tools,
appraisal components, methods, and procedures drastically differ. The variations in
evaluations create inequities that may limit an appraiser's viewpoint of a teacher's
performance, which can stifle the feedback an appraiser provides to the teacher (Jiang et
al., 2015). It is this potentially limited viewpoint of the appraiser's feedback that
prompted this study. In response, this study explored the integration of a video recording
device to support continuous and enhanced accessibility, flexibility, and authentic
appraiser feedback for first-year teachers.
This study used a descriptive quantitative correlational analysis to explore the
relationship between the use of a video recording device and summative Texas Teacher
Evaluation and Support System (T-TESS) evaluation scores of 4+1 TEACH first-year
teachers. This research closely aligned theory to practice while examining the
relationship between variables. The study analyzed the summative T-TESS evaluations of
first-year 4+1 TEACH residents and the number of times each resident uploaded a video
recording. As the researcher, I used a power analysis and descriptive bivariate
correlational analysis to explore the relationships among data, making inferences about the type of correlational research each variable combination presented (Creswell &
Creswell, 2018; Field, 2018).
Overall, the findings indicate that the result of the correlational analysis allows us
to reject the null hypothesis, proclaiming that there is positive correlational significance
between the two variables. The statistically significant positive correlation between the
uses of the video recording device and the summative T-TESS evaluation scores indicates
that further research is necessary to determine if strengthening the variations in the use of
the video recording device can increase the effect of the correlation between the two
variables