Researching Veterans Incarceration After Discharge

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PARTICIPANTS NEEDED!
DOCTORATE IN CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY (PSY.D.) DISSERTATION

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study is to understand how OEF/OIF veterans become incarcerated after discharging from the military. I am interested if after you were discharged, you encountered any difficulties such as challenges with mental illness, substance abuse, unemployment, or poor support, and if those challenges contributed to your incarceration. Your stories are important to me because veterans face stressful situations that might increase the likelihood that they will become incarcerated. I am a trainee in psychology and I want to learn about these stories so I can gather information on how to prevent our nation's veterans from becoming incarcerated. It is my belief that we have a duty to support our veterans after service. They do not deserve to be incarcerated, especially after serving our country.

YOU ARE ELIGIBLE IF YOU…
1. Are between the ages 18-55
2. Served in the U.S. military during the Global War on Terror (GWOT)
3. Received an honorable, general, or other than honorable discharge
4. Were incarcerated for at least one non-violent offense after military discharge (e.g., drug/alcohol, theft, fraud, traffic offenses, gambling)
5. Experienced social injustices after discharge (e.g., homelessness, unemployment, limited access to care)
6. Were released from prison or jail (may be on probation or parole)
7. Have no history of schizophrenia or other related disorders (e.g., brief psychotic disorder, delusional disorder, substance/medication induced psychotic disorder, dissociative identity disorder, dissociative amnesia).

ROLE OF THE PARTICIPANT
I will ask you to complete two short online surveys: a demographics questionnaire and a risk factors survey. The risk factors survey will ask you to review a list of nine challenging situations you may have experienced after discharging from the military such as mental illness, homelessness, and unemployment.
I will then ask you to complete an interview with me, where we will review your survey responses and history of military service. We will discuss what it was like for you to re-enter society as a civilian and explore the challenges you faced following military discharge. At the end of the interview, we will explore how those challenges contributed to your incarceration. At no point during the surveys or interview will I ask you to disclose specific details about your past or current criminal offenses. The interview is expected to take one hour.
You are not required to complete both the surveys and the interview. This is to accommodate any reservations you may have in disclosing certain information regarding your identity, military service, and/or history of incarceration. However, the purpose of completing both is to gather a
comprehensive understanding of how you became incarcerated after discharging from the military. The surveys will set the foundation for the interview by exploring your background and the factors that you believe contributed to your incarceration. The interview will then expand on your survey responses regarding your military service and incarceration, to ensure a complete and accurate description of your post-discharge incarceration is gathered.

COMPENSATION
Participants will be entered to win one $25 Visa Gift Card!
While you are not required to complete both the surveys and the interviews, only those who complete both portions of the study will be eligible for the drawing. This is because the interview intends to expand on survey data to provide a more complete picture of how you became incarcerated after military discharge. Therefore, while the surveys gather important and relevant information to understanding veteran’s incarceration, the purpose of this study is to hear your story of incarceration, which can only be gathered during the interview. Your story is a valuable asset in understanding how veterans become incarcerated after military service and will help identify ways to prevent future incarceration among veterans. It is for these reasons that, you will only be eligible for the drawing if you participant in both the surveys and the interview portions of this study.

POTENTIAL RISKS
Due to the nature of the research study and the discussion topics, some distress may arise for you, as some memories may be traumatic or difficult to discuss (e.g., military service, incarceration). Please note that at no point during the study will you be required to disclose specific details regarding your military duties or your past or current criminal offenses. If I feel that you are becoming too overwhelmed, I will immediately end the interview.

CONFIDENTIALITY
All information gathered during the study including survey data, interview responses, and contact information will be secured on the researcher’s password-protected locked computer. All responses will remain confidential and will only be accessible by the researcher.

INTERESTED?
Please email the primary researcher, Michelle Rhymes, at mrhymes@adler.edu. In the email, please specify 1) your interest in participating in the study and 2) your preferred email address and phone number.
Please note: All contact between participants and the researcher must be made through the designated Adler email address (mrhymes@adler.edu). Contact made through social media platforms (e.g., messaging, comments, posts) will not be accepted.

CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have questions about the study, you may contact the primary researcher, Michelle Rhymes, M.A., at mrhymes@adler.edu or her dissertation chair, Peter Ji, Ph.D, at PJi@adler.edu. If you have questions or concerns about your rights as a participant in this study please contact the Adler University Institutional Review Board (IRB@adler.edu).

Compensation: Participants will be entered to win one $25 Visa Gift Card!

Location: Two Online Surveys and Virtual Interview