Measuring the Effects of Therapeutic Community-Based Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Programs on Inmates in Connecticut Prisons

• In Event: Improvements in Knowledge Development

Abstract

This paper reports data collected as part of an effort to systematically measure and track inmates’ progress-in-treatment throughout their participation in a six-month residential substance abuse treatment program that uses the Therapeutic Community (TC) model. Researchers administer a standardized survey (Kressel and DeLeon 1997) consisting of 103 likert-type items measuring 14 theoretically relevant dimensions of change (De Leon 2000) up to four times during treatment: entry (within first 2 weeks), mid-point (in the fourth month), program completion, and three months following completion. To date, 123 inmates have completed 164 surveys, and data collection is ongoing. Results show the scales have good reliability (alphas range from .68-.94) and that inmates made significant improvements in the developmental domain (e.g., maturity), socialization domain (e.g., rejecting drug and criminal lifestyle), and psychological domain (e.g., cognitive skills), but not in the community engagement domain, while in the program. However, inmates evidenced no obvious patterns of change between completion and follow up, with improvements along some dimensions and declines along others. The paper will also explore the predictive validity of each of the domains in terms of relevant outcomes (e.g., program completion, recidivism, relapse), and how this research exemplifies a promising connection between research and practice.

Author

• Wes Younts, University of Hartford