Correlates of Treatment Readiness Among Formerly Incarcerated Homeless Women

Abstract

Treatment readiness is a key predictor of drug treatment completion, rearrest, and recidivism during community reentry; however, limited data exist among homeless female offenders (HFOs). The purpose of this study was to present baseline data from a randomized controlled trial of 130 HFOs who had been released from jail or prison. Over half (60.8%) of HFOs had a treatment readiness score of ≥40 ( n = 79, mean [μ] = 40.2, SD = 8.72). Bivariate analyses revealed that methamphetamine use, psychological well-being, and high emotional support were positively associated with treatment readiness. On the contrary, depressive symptomatology and depression/anxiety scores were negatively associated with the treatment readiness score. Multiple linear regression revealed that depressive symptomatology was negatively associated with treatment readiness (β = −0.377, p = .001). Further analyses revealed that the effect of emotional support on treatment readiness was mediated by depressive symptomatology.