West Memphis

Researchers are studying whether providing healthy food during pregnancy can reduce the number of women who gain too much weight compared to enhanced standard care. This large multi-site randomized trial will include 1,440 pregnant women aged 16 to 44 years, aiming to better understand gestational weight gain and related pregnancy complications like gestational hypertension and diabetes. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups. The Enhanced Standard of Care (ESoC) group will receive usual nutrition and weight gain counseling, help enrolling in food assistance programs like WIC and SNAP, and referrals to emergency food resources. The Delivering HOPE group will receive all ESoC services plus financial support during pregnancy ($1,000 to $3,000 depending on household size) specifically for purchasing healthy foods recommended in counseling. Throughout the study, data on weight before pregnancy and at delivery will be collected from birth records to measure excessive gestational weight gain. Women will be monitored from early pregnancy (up to 18 weeks) through postpartum (about 40 weeks). The study will also track outcomes related to healthy diet, gestational hypertension, gestational diabetes, and pregnancy complications to assess the impact of the interventions.

Researchers are evaluating trauma-focused group therapy called Cognitive Processing Therapy adapted for prisons (CPT-CJ) to see if it helps reduce drug and alcohol use, mental health problems, and drug-related crime after people leave prison. The trial focuses on people in prison who have posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and substance use disorders (SUD), conditions common among incarcerated populations. The study also looks at ways to support therapy use in prisons and assesses the cost of these treatments and support strategies to plan for wider use. Participants will receive either CPT-CJ group therapy or trauma-focused self-help therapy using a workbook. CPT group sessions last 90 minutes and happen 1-2 times weekly, with no more than 10 participants per group, over a period that can last from 6 weeks up to 3 months. The self-help group independently works through a workbook with exercises to develop trauma recovery skills. The active treatment period is expected to span about 1.5 years at each site. Participants will complete surveys and assessments up to five times: before treatment, after treatment, before release from prison, and 3 and 6 months after release. They will also provide urine samples at 3 and 6 months post-release. Researchers will measure drug use frequency, drug use presence, posttraumatic stress symptom severity, and treatment fidelity during the active treatment. Additionally, prison staff and officials will participate in some surveys to support therapy implementation.