Adolescents in Therapeutic Communities: One-Year Posttreatment Outcomes

Abstract

Given the dearth of information concerning outcomes for adolescents who have been in treatment for substance abuse and related problems, the purpose of the present article is to examine the posttreatment status of adolescents who have been in residential therapeutic communities (TCs). One-year posttreatment outcome data are described for 485 adolescents, and separately for treatment "completers" and "noncompleters." The majority of the sample had been mandated to treatment by the criminal justice system. Most reported marijuana as their main drug of abuse. There were significant reductions in drug use and criminal activity, and the most consistent predictors of positive outcomes were completion of treatment and not associating with deviant peers posttreatment. The findings were obtained on a treatment sample for whom there is relatively little research to date; they provide important evidence for the effectiveness of the therapeutic community for this population.

A Review of the Use of Therapeutic Communities With Sexual Offenders

“…There appears to be research attesting to the effectiveness of TCs, both in terms of recidivism reduction and within-TC changes, in a wide range of offender types -including violent offenders, personality disordered individuals, adolescent offenders, and substance mis-users (Davies & Campling, 2003;Lees et al, 1999;Lipton, Pearson, Cleland & Yee, 2000;Jainchill, Hawke, De Leon & Yagelka, 2000;Jainchill, Hawke & Messina, 2005;Marshall, 1997;McMurran, 2007;Taylor, 2000).…”

So You Want To Run An Outcome Study? The Challenges To Measuring Adolescent Residential Treatment Outcomes

“…With respect to defining and measuring outcomes, reviews of published studies have acknowledged a lack of definition, inconsistency between studies, and the failure to use valid and reliable instruments (Jainchill et al, 2000;Pfeiffer, 989;Pfeiffer & Strzelecki, 990;Swales & Kiehn, 995). For example, many studies have measured outcomes in terms of a reduction or absence of a negative indicator, rather than an increase in a positive indicator (Jainchill et al, 2000).…”

“…For example, many studies have measured outcomes in terms of a reduction or absence of a negative indicator, rather than an increase in a positive indicator (Jainchill et al, 2000). The reduction or absence of negative indicators is then typically used to infer a positive outcome.…”

“…These categories, however, may be more reflective of the research interests of the author or sources of funding, rather than actual differences in the population served. For example, a study by Jainchill et al (2000) focused on the use of residential treatment for adolescents with substance abuse problems. This study described its population by the characteristics associated with substance abuse (e.g., types of substances, frequency of use).…”

“…Outcome studies of residential treatment of children and adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders have generally found favorable outcomes for this form of treatment (Curry, 99;Curtis et al, 200;Gilliland-Mallo & Judd, 986;Gorske et al, 200;Jainchill et al, 2000;Larzele et al, 200;Lyons et al, 200;Pfeiffer, 989;Swales & Kiehn, 995). The literature widely acknowledges, however, that this form of treatment has been insufficiently studied and problems in the design of many existing studies limit the broad applicability of conclusions from specific studies to this form of treatment (Larzele et al,200;Pfeiffer,989;Swales & Kiehn,995).…”