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Interactive Journaling has been described as a goal-directed, client-centered model that aims to reduce substance abuse and substance-related behaviors, such as recidivism, by guiding adults and youth with substance use disorders through a process of written self-reflection. In 2013, Interactive Journaling was added to Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA) National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP).

The Interactive Journaling model is based on structured and expressive writing techniques, principles of motivational interviewing, cognitive-behavioral interventions, and the integration of the transtheoretical model of behavior change. The approach helps participants modify their behavior as they progress through the stages of change that underlie the transtheoretical model: (1) precontemplation (not intending to begin the change in behavior in the next 6 months), (2) contemplation (intending to begin the change in behavior in the next 6 months), (3) preparation (intending to begin the change in behavior in the next 30 days), (4) action (practicing the behavior for less than 6 months), and (5) maintenance (practicing the behavior for at least 6 months).

Interactive Journaling Trademark
The original Interactive Journaling trademark application at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) was filed in the class of 016-Paper by Serenity Support Services, Inc. (now The Change Companies) of Carson City, Nevada, on March 15, 1999. The description provided to the USPTO was for "books and journals featuring a broad range of health and lifestyle issues." USPTO granted trademark registration on May 2, 2000. On May 5, 2010, the trademark was renewed with a description as follows: "books and journals in the field of health and lifestyle issues; educational publications, namely, educational workbooks, journals, facilitator guides, references, user guides and educational booklets in the field of health and lifestyle-change."

First use for the word mark was on February 10, 1999 and first use in commerce on April 15, 1999. The Change Companies of Carson City, Nevada, is the current registered owner of the Interactive Journaling trademark.

History
Interactive Journaling was originally developed in 1989 by Don Kuhl, founder of The Change Companies, and has since been distributed to more than 20 million clients in mental health and addiction treatment, corrections, impaired driving programs, prevention, education, and healthcare.

Interactive Journaling is Based on Prevailing Change Theory and Motivational Techniques
Since its inception in 1988, the method or practice of Interactive Journaling has been continually refined, based on feedback from clinical treatment programs, correctional facilities, university research institutes, and program participants. Interactive Journaling is based on the Intensive Workshop approach of Dr. Ira Progoff (1975). It is influenced by the research and writings of Carl Rogers (1965), Traux & Carkhuff (1967) and Carl Jung (1957). The methods of Motivational Interviewing (Miller & Rollnick, 2002; Rollnick, Miller & Butler, 2008) are incorporated into Interactive Journaling, eliciting participant self-motivational statements in written form (Miller & Mee-Lee, 2010). Content from the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change (Prochaska & Norcross, 2009) is also incorporated into Interactive Journaling, in addition to the application of cognitive-behavioral therapy as a result of collaboration with lead psychologists from the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations support a link between Interactive Journaling and behavior change
Spoken language is the primary medium of counseling and psychotherapy. The therapeutic value of written language has also been studied extensively, both to provide self-help information and to elicit personal reflection. Interactive journaling is a guided writing process that combines both of these functions. It has differed from usual therapeutic writing in two ways: (a) by integrating the presentation of treatment-relevant information in graphic-enhanced text to engage the reader, and (b) by offering frequent structured opportunities for the client to respond to and integrate material being presented. ... Experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations support a link between Interactive Journaling and behavior change. Research on motivational interviewing offers evidence-based guidelines for structuring Interactive Journaling materials to elicit language favoring change, as well as testable hypotheses linking writing processes with outcomes.

Interactive Journaling reduces recidivism in randomized controlled trial
In a randomized controlled trial, substance dependent prisoners were randomly assigned to two groups: a control group which received a government booklet on the relationship between substance use and criminal behavior; and an experimental group which received the Changing Course Interactive Journal. All 183 participants met accepted diagnostic criteria for a substance use disorder, had a current offense that was substance-related, and were repeat recidivists.

While there were other material differences between the treated and untreated groups, results show that the recidivism rate for the Interactive Journaling group was 15% lower than the control group. This was measured by individuals being sentenced within a 12-month period following entry into the study. The results suggest that Interactive Journaling has merit and substantial clinical importance for those offenders who are substance dependent.

Interactive Journaling reduces prison misconduct
The Life Connections Program is a faith-based curriculum developed in collaboration with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons Chaplaincy Services and The Change Companies. The program consists of 14 individual Interactive Journals used by participants over an 18-month timeframe. Volunteers from the community from various religions work directly with the prisoners who have applied and been accepted to the program.

This study matched same-faith volunteers with a prisoner from the general population based on several key measures including criminal and misconduct history, prior religious experience, motivation, community integration and demographic information. The matches were created based on information from the time period prior to participation, and misconduct was monitored during the participation period. Compared to matched controls, prisoners participating in the Life Connections Program had about half the instances of serious misconduct during the 18 months of the study.

Interactive Journaling reduces criminality and substance use for prison inmates
This study compared the Federal Bureau of Prison Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP) completers against RDAP noncompleters under supervised release (n=195). The following points highlight the key findings of this study: Overall, those who did not complete RDAP were at more than three times greater risk for having their supervision revoked than RDAP completers. (N=195) Hazards Ratio = 3.5000, p < .05.
 * Participants who completed RDAP were two times less likely to engage in criminality than those who did not complete RDAP.
 * Participants who completed RDAP were nearly four times less likely to engage in substance use than those who did not complete RDAP.
 * RDAP completers had approximately 10 times greater odds of having employment stability and housing stability than RDAP noncompleters.

Self-directed Interactive Journaling accepted by a prison population
Buncombe County Detention Facility in North Carolina conducted a randomized clinical trial that explored whether a self-directed Interactive Journal (Changing Course) provided to prisoners who meet diagnostic criteria for substance dependence would impact recidivism rates and the rate of individuals seeking treatment post-release.

Offenders meeting the criteria were offered the self-directed Journal and staff routinely observed usage and asked about completion of the Journal. This report focused on the prisoner’s willingness to accept the Journal, self-reported usage and staff-observed usage of the Journal while in prison.

Of the 70 eligible experimental group participants, 69 (98.6%) agreed to take the Interactive Journal. Of the 59 prisoners available to staff, 50 (85%) reported completion of at least some of the writing tasks prior to release.

Interactive Journaling found helpful among participants in a prison-based residential substance abuse treatment program
The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which an early prison release incentive impacted inmates’ perceptions of substance abuse treatment helpfulness, overall satisfaction and focus on treatment issues. Three groups of inmates participating in their first, third or sixth month of residential drug abuse treatment were surveyed. Overall, findings indicated that the early release incentive served to encourage inmates’ engagement in drug treatment and did not appear to distract inmates from perceiving their treatment as helpful or hinder their pursuit of various treatment topics and skills. Statistically significant differences in what the inmates expected to learn or acquire, overall satisfaction and perceived helpfulness were found between those inmates who were provisionally eligible for the early release incentive versus those who were not. Emphasizing the importance of treatment engagement, an examination of qualitative data also revealed that those who had been in the program longer had higher rates of perceived helpfulness and suggested that at the six-month point in treatment, inmates begin to experience and integrate their treatment gains.

Applications of Interactive Journaling
Interactive Journaling provides an adjunctive resource in evidence-based treatment, combining the presentation of therapeutic material (bibliotherapy) with structured writing exercises to promote personal integration of and reflection on content. It has been used in the following settings:


 * Mental health clinics and facilities
 * Addiction treatment and rehabilitation centers
 * Impaired driving programs
 * Prevention education programs
 * Healthcare programs
 * U.S. federal prisons
 * U.S. state prison systems
 * U.S. probation districts
 * County or community corrections programs
 * Private correctional companies

Famous Applications of Interactive Journaling
Drug-dealer-turned-celebrity-chef Jeff Henderson completed the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prison Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP) during his incarceration. An excerpt from his New York Times Best Seller 2007 memoir, Cooked:
 * Still, the [RDAP] class really got to me. I thought it would all be [expletive], but it wasn't, and I started learning a great deal. One of the topics that truly touched me was the 'Criminal Lifestyles' module. Mr. H wasn't buying any victim nonsense; you couldn't be on that bandwagon in his class. At the end of the day, he always said, 'Nobody pulled a gun on you to make you commit the crime; you made the choice.' That stuck with me, that I was a victim until I came into knowledge of self and realized that I was the fool and fell right into the hands of my criminal mentors. By the end of the nine-month program, a third of the group finally admitted that they were not victims -- and one of them was me.