# Peer navigation for individuals with serious mental illness leaving jail

> **NIH NIH R34** · MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $235,963

## Abstract

Serious Mental Illness (SMI) is a stigmatized and disabling health condition that reduces average life
expectancy by 25 years. SMI is also a prevalent public health problem affecting 25% of jail populations. Re-
entry to the community following incarceration is a vulnerable time for justice-involved individuals with SMI,
and SMI requires prompt and ongoing access to mental health and other healthcare services. Justice-
involved individuals with SMI re-entering the community experience multiple barriers to access to community
mental health, medical care and social services due to their debilitating symptoms, practical challenges
accessing community services, and mental health stigma. Peer navigation has been found to improve access
to the mental health and medical care among individuals with SMI in the community. However, no peer
support interventions for SMI have been tested to assist with mental health service linkage during re-entry to
the community after incarceration. This study will develop and pilot test a peer navigator intervention for
individuals with SMI re-entering the community after jail stay, providing formative work for a larger randomized
controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of peer navigator intervention for justice-involved individuals with
SMI. The intervention is based on social support theory. The project will: (a) develop a peer navigation
intervention and evaluate its feasibility, acceptability, and potential engagement of target mechanisms for
enrollment in mental health, medical care and substance use services among individuals with SMI re-entering
the community and (b) conduct a randomized pilot trial in a sample of 40 individuals with SMI re-entering the
community. Proposed target mechanisms include increased instrumental, informational, and emotional
support for treatment engagement and recovery, as well as increased perception of social norms promoting
treatment engagement and recovery. The control condition will be Standard Of Care (SOC). In addition to
feasibility and acceptability, other outcomes include: (1) health service outcomes (primary) including
enrollment/engagement/utilization of community mental health (primary), medical care and substance use
services; and shorter days between release and first contact with healthcare provider; (2) Clinical outcomes:
reduced psychiatric symptoms, increased functioning, adherence to psychiatric medications, fewer
substance using days, fewer hospitalizations and suicide attempts; (3) Life context outcomes: nights unstably
housed, and time until rearrest and (4) Potential target mechanisms that include instrumental, informational,
and emotional support for treatment engagement and social norms about treatment engagement and
recovery. Addressing the needs of re-entering individuals with SMI is a pressing priority for both the mental
health and criminal justice systems. Peer navigators could play a critical role in continuing recovery and
successful reintegration, re...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10025264
- **Project number:** 5R34MH118402-02
- **Recipient organization:** MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Maji Hailemariam DEBENA
- **Activity code:** R34 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $235,963
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-26 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10025264

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10025264, Peer navigation for individuals with serious mental illness leaving jail (5R34MH118402-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10025264. Licensed CC0.

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