Doctoral students Brooke Haney and Emilie Ellenberg, MA, presented at this year's American Psychological Association (APA) conference.
Brooke Haney stands with her poster.
Haney presented her research titled "Effectiveness of Drug Court as a Substance Use Treatment for Violent Offenders: A Systematic Review." Haley discussed that, while drug courts offer a rehabilitative alternative to incarceration for justice-involved individuals with substance use issues, those with violent offending histories are often excluded from drug court participation. Her systematic review examined individual-level recidivism outcomes among drug court programs that do and do not accept violent offenders as participants. The review's results suggested that violent offenders may equally benefit from drug court participation if given the opportunity to participate.
"As for the overall conference experience, I had a great time," Haney said. "I had excellent discussions with APA exhibitors, professionals, and other presenters. Not only did I gain insights from others about my own research, but I learned a lot about other areas of psychological research."
Ellenberg presented her research, "Accessing Behavioral Health Services as Learned Behavior: A Qualitative, Community-Engaged Research Study." In her work, Ellenberg aimed to ascertain the role of learned behavior (i.e., past experience, knowledge passed down through family members, peers, culture, or religion) in one's determination to seek behavioral health services as opposed to logistic barriers (i.e., availability, finances, transportation) being the primary barrier to service utilization. The results of her study show that both learned behavior and logistic barriers play an equally important role in one's decision to seek services. She adds that this implicates that targeted efforts need to be made in psychoeducation, marketing, and campaigns for service utilization.
"It was both exciting and nerve-wracking to present at APA 2024," Ellenberg said. "It is a very large conference. I had fun talking with others about the work I've done and making connections with likeminded professionals!"