Readiness for Change: Assessing Employee Commitment to Peer Worker Integration in Drug Court Settings

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess Maryland Drug Court employees’ readiness and perceived commitment to peer worker integration, as measured by the Readiness for Organizational Change Scale and the Commitment to Organizational Change Scale. A non-experimental quantitative cross-sectional correlational study was conducted with 110 employees of multidisciplinary teams within Maryland’s Office of Problem-Solving Courts. Kurt Lewin’s “unfreeze, change, refreeze” change model was utilized as the overarching conceptual framework. Results suggest that an employee’s readiness for peer worker integration is a precursor to an employee’s commitment to peer worker integration, and therefore predicts an employee’s probability of behavior prior to, during, and after peer worker integration. Therefore, drug courts should consider establishing initial and ongoing training for staff that specifically focuses on the purpose of the peer worker within the multidisciplinary team while also ensuring there is a strategic communication plan on the role and function of the peer worker. Additionally, drug courts could establish a peer worker referral system in the early stages of the drug court participant’s induction to increase interaction between the peer worker and multidisciplinary team members. Finally, drug courts should consider focusing on formally incorporating peer workers into the policies and procedures of drug courts and establish an evaluative process that includes peer workers in terms of drug court outcome measures.