Grantee: University of Washington. The full study report is linked here.
Description of the Intervention. This project was a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of an adaptation of Critical Time Intervention (CTI) for hospitalized gunshot wound victims. The CTI adaptation — provided for six months after hospital discharge — connected gunshot wound victims with necessary community services, ensured they had an appropriate support system, and helped them develop a plan for achieving long-term goals (e.g., employment, education). While still hospitalized, patients were provided Motivational Interviewing designed to encourage their engagement in CTI. Both CTI and Motivational Interviewing are backed by promising evidence of effectiveness from prior RCTs in other policy contexts. In the study described below, the intervention was generally well-implemented (e.g., 99% of treatment group members in the final sample received motivational interviewing and 61% received CTI).
Study Design. The study randomly assigned 146 calendar weeks over approximately a three – year period (2016−2018) to treatment versus control conditions. Gunshot wound victims admitted to Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center during “treatment” weeks were eligible to receive the intervention, and those admitted during “control” weeks received usual services. A total of 366 gunshot wound patients met the study’s eligibility criteria (e.g., they were older than 18, and lived in certain pre-specified surrounding counties at the time of their hospitalization). Of these eligible patients, 232 consented to participate in the study.
Impact on the Primary Outcome. Over an average follow-up period of 16 months after random assignment (10 months post-intervention)f1, the intervention was found to have no statistically significant effect on patients’ likelihood of subsequent arrest (34.7% of the treatment group were arrested during the follow-up period vs. 36.8% of the control group). Arrest outcomes were measured with administrative data maintained by the Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts and the Washington State Patrol.
Study Quality. Based on a careful review, we believe the study was generally well-conducted and likely produced valid findingsf2.
