Circumstances, motivation, readiness, and suitability (the CMRS scales): predicting retention in therapeutic community treatment.
Based upon clinical considerations, scales were developed measuring client perceptions across four interrelated domains: circumstances (external pressures), motivation (intrinsic pressures), readiness, and suitability (CMRS) for residential TC treatment. This paper, the first in a series, reports findings on the reliability of the CMRS and its validity as a predictor of retention in TC treatment in three cohorts of consecutive admissions to a long-term residential TC. The main findings show that: (a) discriminant and factor analyses confirm the face validity of the original four rationale scales; (b) scores distribute into four groups, with most clients in the moderately low to moderately high range; (c) two cross-validation studies confirm the internal consistency of the scales, and a linear relationship between the separate and total CMRS scores and short-term retention in all three cohorts and long-term retention in two cohorts. The present psychometric study provides impressive findings on the reliability and validity of the CMRS scales as predictors of retention in long-term TCs. Although still considered experimental, awaiting replicational studies and firm conclusions concerning generalizability, the CMRS holds considerable promise for research, theory, and practice.
Center for Therapeutic Community Research (CTCR), National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. (NDRI), New York 10013.
G
G
De Leon
G
G
Melnick
D
D
Kressel
N
N
Jainchill
D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008134:Long-Term Care; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D009519:New York City; D010343:Patient Admission; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000523:psychology*; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D013808:Therapeutic Community