Three therapeutic communities for drug abusers: differences in treatment environments.

Abstract

Three therapeutic communities for drug abusers were compared using the Community Oriented Program Environments Scale (COPES) to determine whether the same principles of treatment could produce similar social environments. All three facilities were found to have similarly shaped profiles. Two of the facilities differed significantly from each other on only two subscales, with standard scores remaining within the same range. The third facility showed a depressed profile that differed significantly from the other facilities on five subscales and suggested a poorer quality of treatment environment. Further evidence for this interpretation came from a follow-up study of dropouts from the three facilities; it was found that the two facilities with similar scores had similar dropout rates, while the third facility with lower scores had a much higher dropout rate.