Client Perceptions of Prison-Based Therapeutic Community Drug Treatment Programs

• NCJ Number: 204240
• Journal: Prison Journal Volume: 84 Issue: 1 Dated: March 2004 Pages: 121-138
• Author(s): Gerald Melnick; Josephine Hawke; Harry K. Wexler
• Date Published: March 2004
• Length: 18 pages
• Grant Number(s): 1 R01 DA15264
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article reports on a survey of 1,056 participants in 13 prison-based substance abuse treatment programs, including several in California, using the Multimodality Quality Assurance Instrument (MQA) to solicit respondents' perceptions of the programs.

Abstract

The MQA contains treatment scales that pertain to the three treatment modalities of therapeutic community (TC), cognitive-based treatment (CBT), and 12-step self-help treatment. The MQA examined the relationship between the program participants' perception of the program's therapeutic activities and the program climate, as well as their personal participation and satisfaction with the program. The study tested the following two hypotheses: participants in modified TC's can be grouped according to their observations of the occurrence of TC, CBT, and 12-step activities and a program climate that consists of a feeling of community; and participants who observe higher levels of occurrence of these treatment components will have a higher evaluation of their participation in treatment and rapport with counselors and higher levels of treatment satisfaction. Both study hypotheses were confirmed by the data analyses. Three clusters of participants were identified who gave their treatment programs elevated, moderate, and low ratings based on their perception of the program's use of TC, CBT, and 12-step treatment activities and the degree of supportive community environment. Also, participants' observations of the program activities were related to their evaluations of their participation. The clusters differed significantly, with the elevated-score cluster scoring highest, the moderate cluster second, and the low cluster scoring the lowest on treatment participation, rapport with counselor, and satisfaction. The findings show that the MQA treatment modality scales, including program climate or sense of community, combined to effectively assess modified TC treatment environments. Suggestions are offered for future research. 5 tables and 47 references