NCJ Number
117292
Journal
Child and Youth Quarterly Volume: 17 Issue: 3 Dated: (Fall 1988) Pages: 146-155
Date Published
1988
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This article presents a study in which students' and staff members' perceptions of social climates in two peer-group and two non-peer-group residential treatment agencies were compared.
Abstract
Peer group treatment has been controversial because of some professionals' suspiciousness of guided group and other self-help approaches, and the fact that peer group programs evolved outside the mainstream of traditional clinical practice. Peer group programs attempt to 'empower' those in treatment by making them participants in the change process and use the group to influence individual values. Individuals are asked to help others in an environment that stresses selflessness, social interest, personal responsibility, and cooperation. Students from the peer group agencies sampled reported significantly greater satisfaction with their social climates than their non-peer-group contemporaries, and staff/student perceptions were more congruent in the peer group agencies than in the non-peer-group agencies. The results suggested that peer group programs can provide healthy, responsible therapeutic communities; that social climate is directly related to outcome and inversely related to student acting-out; and that the more democratic and responsive the decisionmaking, the more positive the social climate may be. 2 tables and 7 references. (Author abstract modified)