Profile of women in a county jail.

The literature about women in prison says little about characteristics of women in local jails. The goal of this study was to better understand the demographics and characteristics of these women to develop responsive programming. A cross-sectional survey of 346 women in an urban jail was conducted.

Dating violence and girls in the juvenile justice system.

The purpose of this study is to explore the prevalence and associated behaviors of dating violence among a population of girls in the juvenile justice system. A sample of 590 girls from an urban juvenile justice system completed a questionnaire assessing attitudes and self-efficacy about and occurrence of dating violence. The analysis developed a random effect model to determine a risk profile for dating violence.

Cost analysis of obtaining postintervention results in a cohort of high-risk adolescent girls.

Background: Little information is available to guide researchers who must estimate the costs associated with obtaining postintervention survey data from research cohorts.

Objective: To estimate the costs of following girls involved in the juvenile justice system who were part of a reproductive health promotion intervention for 6 months; to determine the costs of collecting follow-up data; and to determine how participant characteristics, recruitment sites, and follow-up methods affect costs.

Method: Direct and indirect costs associated with program staff and various support services' time and the costs of incentives for participation were used to calculate the total cost of follow-up for each participant.

Health interventions with girls in the juvenile justice system.

Purpose: Girls today make up 25% of youth in the juvenile justice system (JJS). To address the interrelated sexual and dating violence risk behaviors of this population, we compared the relative impact of a 6-hour, peer-led group intervention, Girl Talk-2, whose goal was to decrease sexual and dating violence risk behaviors, with the impact of a comparison group in which the same information was presented in a standard lecture and video format.

Methods: A cyclic cohort study with alternating intervention and comparison programs were implemented with 539 girls at 6 sites of a county JJS.

Community-based violence awareness.

Violence against women is a major influence on women's mental health. We used popular education techniques to train 14 Spanish-speaking women as promotoras (community health workers) to increase awareness about violence against women in low income Texas communities. These women then conducted over 80 presentations in Spanish in local community settings.