Community Building among Older Men Returning from Incarceration: The Cumberland House Reentry Project (CHRP)

Project Summary/Abstract The proposed study is a longitudinal mixed methods social network analysis (MMSNA) of a novel peer-led community-based reentry program aimed at a vulnerable population: older men transitioning from prison after completing long (10+ years) sentences. The Cumberland House Reentry Program departs from traditional community corrections programs by immersing older, previously incarcerated (OPI) men into a peer-run house designed to build and enhance peer and community social ties. This previously untested program relies on the principles of network alteration and provides a case study for examining interpersonal mechanisms underlying a behavioral health program. With a MMSNA research design, we propose collecting both (1) dynamic sociocentric network data of house residents and staff and (2) qualitative data of health and interpersonal relationships. We then analyze if, when, how, and why the program performs as expected. Moreover, we leverage implementation science to document program fidelity and implementation, key NIH priorities. Such research permits the translation of basic science results into realistic future network interventions by documenting how to deliver similar interventions at scale that supports effectiveness. With the assistance of internal seed funding, our interdisciplinary team has studied the program's development and delivery from its outset, providing preliminary results and a unique opportunity to evaluate the implementation process in real time. Such research is extremely rare and allows us to document the real-world contextual factors that may drive effectiveness, or alternatively, result in null or even iatrogenic effects for health and other reentry outcomes. To evaluate program impacts for long-term health and criminal justice outcomes (e.g., rearrest and reincarceration), we will request a matched sample of untreated older, previously incarcerated men through the PSU Criminal Justice Research Center from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PADOC). Our sample and its matched counterpart will be linked to open source (e.g., arrest data from the Administration Offices of Pennsylvania Courts) and restricted access healthcare data (Medicare/Medicaid service records) through the PSU Data Accelerator and compared at 6- and 12-months post-prison release. Results will provide a comprehensive evaluation of a network-based program applicable to future network interventions aimed at vulnerable older adults experiencing challenging life course transitions.