Exploring Treatment Completion and Participant Feedback in an Adapted Intervention among Incarcerated Men with Mental Illness

Treatment completion in interventions within correctional settings is challenging both generally and for people with mental illness (MI). Few studies have explored treatment completion alongside feedback from this population. We examined the rates of treatment completion alongside participant feedback to explore how participant feedback can improve treatment completion. Mixed-methods were used to examine treatment completion rates and clinical characteristics of participants (n = 24), and to explore participant feedback. We used thematic, qualitative analysis of participant feedback (n = 17) obtained from interviews, alongside univariate statistics to describe the sample of treatment completers and non-completers. Three-quarters of participants completed the treatment. Non-completers had a higher proportion of one or more infractions than completers. Four themes from participant feedback emerged in the qualitative analysis: Practice, Applicable Takeaways, Intervention Pace, and Group Dynamics. Participants' feedback highlights important considerations for responsive practices to improve treatment completion among incarcerated men with MI.