title: The varieties of religious experience and the retention of clients in Taiwanese faith-based residential drug user treatment.
abstract: This study investigated whether subgroups of faith-based treatment clients displaying similar religious experiences and treatment performance can be theoretically specified and empirically identified. Highlighting the volitional dimension of the change process, four subgroups (i.e., non-Christians, baseline Christians, rededicated Christians, and newly converted Christians) were proposed according to the direction and magnitude of clients' change in religiosity during treatment. Data obtained for 707 subjects who entered a Christian residential therapeutic community program in Taiwan between 2000 and 2009 were analyzed. Results showed that the typology of religious experiences powerfully predicted treatment retention and completion. Issues of therapeutic specificity and relapse prevention are discussed and study's limitations are noted.
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Criminal Justice, John Jay College of Criminal Justice , New York, New York , USA.
authors.forename: Hung-En
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Sung
authors.forename: Doris C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Chu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D055030:Drug Users / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010352:Patient Dropouts; D012067:Religion; D012114:Residential Treatment; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D013624:Taiwan; D013808:Therapeutic Community