Substance Use Disorder Training Among Probation Officers, and the Impact (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798348102340)

Probationers with substance use disorders (SUD) face outcomes that are generally

worse than those of their non-addicted counterparts. Technical violations are one of the

primary drivers of failure on probation, and/or incarceration and they are often related to

ongoing substance use. When probationers with SUD commit technical probation

violations, probation officers frequently have discretion in case management

recommendations, including whether to pursue formal sanctions. Little is known about

the attitudes and beliefs held by probation officers toward substance using probationers.

Further there is a lack of understanding about how those attitudes impact the decisionmaking

process, and how they might be shaped by education and training in substance

use disorders. Research of other stigmatized disorders such as mental illness suggests that

education and training among service providers can reduce stigma.

To fill this gap in the literature, this study uses an exploratory survey of probation

and parole officers in the United States which includes previously validated measures

from law enforcement, mental health, and probation to probe attitudes among probation

officers about substance use, and the impact of SUD education and training on

approaches to substance related technical violations. Findings suggest that while the

amount of education and training in SUD among probation officers is limited,

respondents' recommendations for SUD related technical probation violations were still

primarily treatment oriented with some variation by age.