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Contact: Mark Harniss (mharniss@uw.edu), Sharan Brown (sbrown@uw.edu)
Core Function: Research and Evaluation
Program: Center for Technology and Disability
This project aims to improve interactions between incarcerated individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and front line staff of the Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC). Specifically, the project aims to help front line staff understand what a TBI is, how offenders might be affected by TBI, what they could do that would help in day-to-day management of problems faced by offenders with TBI, how TBI might affect engagement in treatment programs, how TBI affects compliance with DOC rules and regulations, and how TBI might affect transition from corrections to community living. The project proposes to effect change at two levels in the DOC. The first is to increase awareness and knowledge about TBI system-wide. The second is to develop and pilot intensive knowledge translation activities with front line staff who work with specific target populations (e.g., veterans, or women, or individuals with developmental disabilities) in order to translate knowledge into practice. These activities will be evaluated and used to develop best practices that can be generalized to other correctional facilities within the DOC.
