New Paper Published in Journal of Offender Rehabilitation

Implementation preparation costs of virtual reality job interview training in prisons: a budget impact analysis

Abstract: Virtual Reality Job Interview Training (VR-JIT) has increased employment rates for returning citizens when added to a successful prison-based employment readiness program. However, implementation preparation cost—expenses prior to offering VR-JIT to intended recipients—is unknown. We estimated the cost of implementation preparation activities (e.g., organizing workflow) for two prisons to deliver VR-JIT. We conducted a budget impact analysis and enumerated the labor costs incurred during this important stage of implementation. Labor costs were approximately $8,847 per prison. Our sensitivity analysis estimated the labor costs to replicate this effort in a new prison to range from $2,877 to $4,306 per prison. Thus, VR-JIT may be an affordable tool for prison-based employment readiness programs to improve gainful employment.

Read more here: https://doi.org/10.1080/10509674.2022.2160040