NCT04140942

Improving Employment and Reducing Recidivism Among Prison Offenders Via Virtual Interview Training Tool (MICHR)

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 44 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Michigan · Academic / Other
• Sex: Male
• Age: 25 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The goal is to conduct a feasibility effectiveness RCT of Virtual Interview Training (VIT) by comparing employment and recidivism outcomes of offenders (25 years and older) receiving vocational services as usual (SAU) plus VIT (SAU+VIT) with the outcomes of offenders receiving only services as usual (SAU-only). The plan calls for participants to include offenders who are at moderate to high risk for reoffending (with an emphasis on violent-crime reoffending) who are currently enrolled in a Vocational Village Prison Setting with the Michigan Department of Corrections.

Detailed description

More than 600,000 ex-offenders re-enter the community from prison each year and 50% of them recidivate within 12 months of release. Employment significantly reduces the risk of recidivism for ex-offenders, and as such, is a critical target for intervention. However, evidence-based employment services are rarely delivered in prisons. Moreover, employment services that are available do not include evidence-based job interview training. Virtual Reality Job Interview Training (VR-JIT) is an evidence-based tool that was developed and evaluated with funding from the National Institute of Mental Health. However, VR-JIT has a feature to practice discussing a prior conviction during a job interview that has not yet been evaluated. Given that an ex-offender's job interview outcome may depend on discussing their prior conviction, we are partnering with the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) to evaluate if delivering VR-JIT within their Vocational Village program can improve employment and reduce recidivism among offenders after their release from prison. Thus, there are two goals for this pilot study. We will evaluate the preliminary effectiveness of whether VR-JIT added to Vocational Village services-as-usual improves outcomes (interview skills, employment, recidivism) for offenders after their release from prison (at a 6-month follow-up visit). These preliminary data will support a proposal to a federal agency for a fully-powered randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of VR-JIT with prison settings.

Conditions

• Criminal Behavior

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Virtual Reality Job Interview Training	Participants will engage in training related to preforming well during a job interview as well as repeated job interview practice with a virtual hiring manager. Participants will receive feedback and tips on improving skills throughout training.
BEHAVIORAL	Services as usual	Study participants will be receiving Vocational Village services as usual that may include but is not limited to vocational skill training, daily living skill training, and social skill training.

Timeline

• Start date: 2019-09-06
• Primary completion: 2021-07-20
• Completion: 2021-07-20
• First posted: 2019-10-28
• Last updated: 2024-01-25
• Results posted: 2023-03-30

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States