Towards Establishing the Effectiveness of Community-Based Residential Treatment

Abstract

Community-based residential treatment programs, many of which reportedly provide milieu therapy, have increased ten-fold during the past decade. Yet, little effort has been devoted to systematically evaluate these programs. The present research with an experimental design was conducred to assess the impact of a residential program on young adults diagnosed as functionally psychotic, severely neurotic, or having a personality disorder. Ninety-four subjects whose applications lo the program were accepted were randomly assigned to either the experimental (entered residential program) or to the comparison (not in residential treatment) group. Prior to random assignment, baseline data of demographic and background information, along with measures of self responsibility, social interaction, self-concept and problem-solving abilities, were obtained. Following completion of the program, experimental, comparison subjects, and dropouts were interviewed and the same dependent measures were obtained. The comparative analysis of change scores revealed consistent patterns of positive findings, indicating better adjustment for experimental subjects. The effectiveness of residential treatment was established.