|
Introduction
During the past three years, there
has been an ongoing evaluation of the Narconon program at two Narconon
facilities in the United States. These facilities are located in Los Angeles,
California, and Chilocco, Oklahoma. This ongoing evaluation is aimed at both
monitoring some of the factors involved in delivery of the Narconon program and
at assessing the long term results of this comprehensive socio-educational
approach.
The purpose of this evaluation was
three-fold:
- The first goal of this evaluation
was to monitor ongoing delivery to the clients at both Narconon facilities.
Daily and weekly reports provided information on each client on the program.
This ongoing evaluation afforded a detailed picture of what it takes to deliver
rehabilitation service to hard core drug addicts.
- The second goal of this study was
to evaluate the success of the Narconon program in retaining clients through
the full treatment regimen.
- The third goal of this study was
to assess the long term efficacy of the Narconon program. Efficacy measures
included ability to stay off of drugs, criminal behavior and educational or
career progress
Study
Design
The client population included
every client who started the Narconon program at either Narconon Los Angeles or
Narconon Chilocco during the study period. By including every client we avoided
bias in the selection.
The initial evaluation included a
comprehensive interview based on the widely used "Addiction Severity Index" and
quantitative testing for drugs of abuse in a urine sample, taken on arrival.
(The severity index has been used in many evaluations of drug rehabilitation
programs.)
The progress of each client was
then monitored throughout the study via a daily report and periodic urine
testing.
A total of 273 clients
participated in this study.
Demographics
The clientele at different
Narconon facilities do vary considerably. Factors such as regional problems
with drug abuse and governmental support for drug rehabilitation play important
roles. To apply the results of this study, it is important to know something
about the clients at the two Narconon facilities that were being evaluated.
- 81% of the clients participating
in this study were male, 19% were female.
- The average age was 30.7 +/- 8.6
years. (Range 14-66 years).
- 67% were Caucasian, 13% Hispanic,
9% American Indian, 8% African-American and 3% other.
» Continued |
