Process Evaluation of the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Program at the Minnesota Department of Corrections, 1999

The objective of this 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. 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. 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). 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. 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. 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.