Mental Health Services in County Jails
Write 300-word minimum main topic posting. Initial posting should be analytical, persuasive, or reflective in nature.
Topic: Comparing For-Profit and Nonprofit Mental Health Services in County Jails
Comartin, E., Nelson, V., Hambrick, N., Kubiak, S., Sightes, E., & Ray, B. (2020). Comparing for-profit and nonprofit mental health services in county jails. The Journal of Behavioral Health Services and Research, 48(2), 320–329. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11414-020-09733-1
First, Comartin et al (2020) found that for-profit Mental Health Service Providers (MHSPs) offered significantly more direct care than nonprofit MHSPs did. Specifically, they reported that on average for-profits provided nearly twice as many individual psychotherapy sessions per month as nonprofits did. Additionally, they also found that while both groups had an overall similar amount of staff hours worked each month, the proportion of staff members dedicated to clinical activities was much higher among for-profits than nonprofits.
In terms of quality of care however it appears there may be some drawbacks associated with using a for-profit model over a non-profit one. For instance, when comparing client outcomes between the two groups Comartin et al (2020) report that individuals receiving treatment through non-profits experienced greater improvements in symptoms after 3 months compared to those treated through a for profit provider.
It is clear then that when choosing which type of service delivery method to use within county jails administrators should take into consideration not only cost factors but also quality issues as well . While these results seem to suggest that a nonprofit model may provide superior mental health services compared to its for profit counterpart ultimately future research is needed in order to draw firm conclusions about which approach should be used most often within jail settings . It is my hope however that this study serves as an important first step towards improving existing systems so all detainees can access quality care regardless or whether it's being provided by a for profit or non profit organization .