Process Evaluation of the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Program at the Minnesota Department of Corrections, 1999 (ICPSR 3579)

Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose

The mission of the process evaluation was to evaluate the integrity of the Minnesota Correctional Facility (MCF)-Red Wing Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) program service delivery system in order to (1) provide feedback designed to enhance the existing strengths of the RSAT program and improve any existing or potential weaknesses, and (2) prepare for a subsequent outcome evaluation. Further, this evaluation sought to provide a reliable and valid evaluation of the program. As a result, the evaluation data permit a comparison to other RSAT programs and research findings with respect to (1) the dose (amount and intensity) of treatment, (2) adherence to the theoretical model, that is, the integration of the EQUIP counseling model and the substance abuse treatment model, (3) the skill level of caseworkers, (4) changes over time in in-session interactions between and among clients and facilitators, (5) measures of quality control, (6) staff characteristics relevant to treatment processes and outcomes, and (7) a detailed description of the overall implementation of the RSAT program.

Study Design View help for Study Design

The process evaluation data consist of two administrations of the Correctional Institution Environment Scale (CIES) (Parts 1 and 2) and three rounds of Rating of Facilitation of RSAT Groups (Parts 3-5). Resident-participants in this study were male juvenile offenders incarcerated at the MCF-Red Wing who had been determined to have significant substance abuse problems as an aspect of their delinquency. A total of 69 residents participated in the RSAT program during the course of the evaluation. All RSAT program residents were required to participate in all aspects of the program. A total of four caseworkers, one chemical dependency counselor, and two teachers participated in all aspects of the process evaluation. Ten corrections officers and three administrators participated in the CIES administration. There are four forms of the Correctional Institution Environment Scale (CIES): (1) The Real Form (Form R), (2) the Short Form (Form S), (3) the Ideal Form (Form I), and (4) the Expectations Form (Form E). Form R and Form I were employed in this study. Form R measures resident and staff perceptions of the current or "actual" climate of the program. Form I is worded to allow residents and staff to answer questions in terms of an ideal program. Both forms are comprised of 90 true-false statements. The CIES was administered twice for this study, with the first administration in September 1999. Participants in this administration of the CIES were 28 residents of the Princeton Cottage (the cottage that housed the RSAT participants) and 12 staff (administrators, caseworkers, and corrections officers). The second administration was in December 1999. Participants in this administration were 25 residents of the Princeton Cottage and 10 staff (administrators, caseworkers, and corrections officers). A Red Wing staff member was appointed to administer the CIES following the guidelines described in the "Correctional Institutions Environment Scale Manual: A Social Climate Scale (2nd Ed.)" (Moos, 1987). The only deviation from the standard administration described in the manual was that participants were instructed not to include their names on the cover sheet in order to protect anonymity. The surveys were collected and sent to Marquette University investigators for scoring and interpretation. An extensive evaluation of group facilitation was undertaken, with all groups videotaped between May 1999 and September 1999. These videotapes were shipped to Marquette University for review. All participants in the groups were considered in the rating process. The videotapes were stratified by (1) facilitator, (2) type of group, and (3) time in order to assure a representative sample of videotapes from all the groups recorded. Once the tapes were stratified, videos were randomly selected for review and rating. In total, 122 videotapes were reviewed and rated. Two randomly selected raters evaluated each tape on the 22-item Red Wing Global Scale developed for this evaluation. The primary components of the sessions evaluated by the rating scale involved (1) the adherence of the facilitators to the treatment model, (2) the skill level of the facilitators, and (3) the contribution of the residents to the group processes. Marquette graduate and undergraduate students were hired to perform the rating. Following training, the raters began rating the videotapes in a progression of three rounds (each round consisting of a month) conducted in June, August, and October of 1999. During a round, the raters would rate a total of approximately 16 videotapes each. From the outset of the rating process, the rating scale was viewed as a measure that would be changed and further developed as the evaluation progressed. The initial version of the Global Scale utilized a Likert-type response scale and consisted of five items. This format was used in the first round of rating in the month of June 1999. A decision was made to change the questions to measure whether or not a specific characteristic (e.g., reminding the group of the ground rules) was present in the session ("yes" or "no") rather than attempting to measure to what extent a certain characteristic was present. This format was used in the second and third rounds of rating in the months of August and October of 1999.

Sample View help for Sample

Not applicable.

Universe View help for Universe

Residents and staff of the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Program at the Minnesota Department of Corrections-Red Wing Facility.

Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation

Data Source View help for Data Source

Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)

Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables

Parts 1 and 2 of this study consist of the data for the two administrations of the Correctional Institution Environment Scale (CIES). Parts 3-5 of the study consist of the three rounds of Rating of Facilitation of the RSAT Groups. The variables for each rating consist of identifiers for the group name and number and the number of residents in the group. There are also evaluation variables involving (1) the adherence of the facilitators to the treatment model, (2) the skill level of the facilitators, and (3) the contribution of the residents to the group processes.

Response Rates View help for Response Rates

Not applicable.

Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales

Several Likert-type scales were used in Part 3.

Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date

2003-02-19

Version History View help for Version History