Abstract

The U.S. is recognized for uniquely high incarceration rates. Over recent decades, there has been a concurrent dramatic increase of jail detainees with mental disorders. Provision of adequate mental health services for jail inmates is constitutionally mandated, and has legal, ethical, quality of care, and fiscal implications for jails, families, communities, and detainees. Significant variation exists in the provision of mental health services across jails, and increased understanding of the factors that influence the adoption of such services may help guide jails to implement beneficial services, and ensure that such services reflect, reflect quality standards. This study used a mixed methods strategy to examine the influence of theoretically determined variables on the adoption of jail mental health services, and the quality assessment of such services. Data was gathered by survey instrumentation, secondary data review, and in-depth interviews with jail leaders. The study found that isomorphism has a significant effect on the structural adequacy of jail mental health services, innovation characteristics have a negligible relationship to structural adequacy and process integrity, structural adequacy mediates the effects of isomorphism on process integrity, and jail size has a significant effect on structural adequacy. This study advances the knowledge base in its specification of the roles of internal, external, and demographic factors in the adoption of jail mental health services, and in the testing and application of Donabedian's healthcare model to assess the quality of such services.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2017

Semester

Fall

Advisor

Wan, Thomas T. H.

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Health and Public Affairs

Degree Program

Public Affairs; Health Services Management and Research

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0006866

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0006866

Language

English

Release Date

December 2017

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

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