For Immediate Release
December 19, 2006
Contact: Katrina Norfleet
301-587-1600
media@mayatech.com
Dr. Kimberly Jeffries Leonard Reports on Trends in African American Youth in Substance Abuse Treatment
Kimberly Jeffries Leonard, Ph.D., of The MayaTech Corporation-a leading provider of consulting and technical services to Federal agencies-presented preliminary findings on African American adolescents in substance abuse treatment at the "Substance Abuse, Criminal Justice, and HIV in African Americans: Research Development Workshop" held December 11-12. The workshop, sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse's Special Populations Office and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), was held in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Dr. Leonard serves as the lead researcher on a project funded by SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) to assess potential reasons for ethnic and racial disparities in substance abuse treatment among adolescents in the United States.
"Repeatedly, we would hear from clinicians that the data were not reflective of what they were seeing in their treatment of minority youth," said Dr. Leonard. "For example, a lot of data indicate that the majority of African American adolescents in treatment tend to be less educated, are not as compliant with treatment regiments, and have worse treatment outcomes than white adolescents. When we look at the context of our data, this is contradicted."
As a result, Jutta Butler, a CSAT Project Officer, was instrumental in forming a workgroup of researchers and practitioners to focus on the differences in the adolescent process and outcomes as seen in the CSAT-funded substance abuse treatment programs that may be due to sociocultural and structural issues. The ultimate goal is to enhance successful outcomes for this population.
Some of the preliminary findings to emerge are:
- African American youth are referred to substance abuse treatment by the criminal justice system more often than by other referral sources, such as schools or family.
- African American youth are placed in higher levels of care (i.e., residential treatment) and less likely to be placed in outpatient programs as compared to white youth of the same age, regardless of the diagnosis.
- African American youth are admitted into treatment programs with the diagnosis of only one substance abuse disorder as compared to the more frequent multiple substance use or co-occurring mental health diagnosis of white youth the same age.
"To date, our statistical analyses of the referral, diagnosis, and treatment processes for African American adolescents with substance abuse issues demonstrates a need for continued research, " says Dr. Leonard. "The findings of this study are critical to informing culturally relevant policy and ensuring optimal treatment models for African American youth."
As the technical vice president and director of MayaTech's Center for Technical Assistance, Training, and Research Support, Dr. Leonard oversees the technical assistance and training activities provided to more than 450 substance abuse grantees funded by SAMHSA CSAT. She has more than a decade of applied research experience and technical assistance expertise across a wide range of public health topics, including smoking cessation, alcohol abuse, violence prevention, and HIV/AIDS.
Along with Dr. Leonard, other MayaTech staff participating in this research initiative, in close collaboration with the members of the African American Workgroup, include Mesfin S. Mulatu, Ph.D., M.P.H., and Darren Fulmore, Ph.D.
The MayaTech Corporation is a diversified professional and technical services company that provides applied social science research and evaluation, conference and logistics management, information development and dissemination, technical assistance and training, and international development services to public and private sector clients.
The MayaTech Corporation
1100 Wayne Avenue, Suite 900
Silver Spring, MD 20910-5645
Phone: 301-587-1600
Fax: 301-587-0709
Web site: www.mayatech.com
