TREATING TEENS

Thank you for taking the time to participate in this telephone interview. I am going to ask you a series of questions about your adolescent treatment program. If your program has more than one level of care, please answer the question for each level.

Assessments

1. Prior to admission, what is the procedure to determine eligibility (e.g., screening)?

2. Do you conduct an assessment prior to enrolling adolescents in your treatment program? If no, if and when do you conduct an assessment?

3. What assessment tool(s) do you use (including in-house assessment tools)? Do you use the same tool(s) for everyone?

        If assessment tool is not nationally recognized, ask the following:

        What types of information does the assessment provide (medical issues,
        psychiatric, substance use, readiness and motivation)? How is it scored?

4. Are families assessed? If so, what assessment tools are used to assess the family?

5. Are teenagers ever referred to other placements, or deemed inappropriate for treatment, based on the assessment? What percentage of patients you assess are admitted to the program?

6. Who conducts the assessment(s)? What is their training?

7. Are adolescents reassessed to monitor progress? If yes, what tool is used?

Treatment Match

8. Do you create a treatment plan? If yes, who creates the plan? How is it structured? (If not mentioned in the answer, ask if, and how, the plan takes into consideration the intensity of the substance abuse, mental health disorders, and different ages or maturity levels)

9. During treatment, do you ever refer the adolescent to other services outside the program? If yes, what services? How often does this occur?

Comprehensive, Integrated Approach

10. Is the program connected to:

       Schools
           Does the program remain in contact with the client's home school?

       Juvenile justice system
           In addition to referrals, does the program maintain contact with the
           juvenile justice system?
           The patient's community

     If yes, how does the program connect to these entities?

11. What is your treatment protocol for clients with a co-occurring mental heath disorder?

12. Do you provide any educational services? If yes, what are they?

13. How is the client's physical health, including sexual health, addressed?

14. Is substance abuse within the peer group addressed during treatment? If yes, how?

Family Involvement

15. Do you involve the family in treatment? If no, why not? If yes:

        How do you get the family involved?

        What services do you provide (e.g. educational and/or therapy sessions)?
        How long do these services last?

        Are these services based on a specific modality? (MST, Family Based)

        Is family involvement mandatory?

16. How do programs stay connected to families; is the telephone utilized?

17. How do you work with families that are substance abusing themselves, are uninterested in participating, or have any other dysfunction?

Developmentally Appropriate

18. Does the treatment address different ages and/or maturity levels? If yes, how does it differ?

19. Is a specific text or curriculum used? If yes, which one?

20. Is the protocol focused on concrete, rather than abstract, thinking? If yes, provide a few examples.

21. Are experiential/hands-on activities utilized? If yes, please describe.

22. Are adolescents integrated with adult patients during the rehabilitative process? If yes, how?

Content Designed to Engage and Retain Young People

23. What kinds of activities, strategies, and tools are used to engage adolescents in participating in the therapeutic process?

24. Are motivational enhancement techniques utilized?

25. Are special efforts made to engage the family to keep the adolescent engaged?

26. How does the program establish a therapeutic alliance?

Staff

27. What is the level of education of staff?

28. What specific qualifications (training/education) do direct service staff possess in:

Addiction
Adolescent development
Assessments
Family therapy
Mental health issues

29. What are the qualifications for clinical supervisors? How is supervision of direct service staff carried out?

30. Is there an on-going training program? If yes, what topics are covered? How often are trainings conducted? Who conducts the trainings?

31. Is there a trained family therapist on staff?

32. What is the ratio of staff to clients?

Continuing Care

33. What is your continuing care plan?

        What length of time does the plan cover?

        Is relapse prevention/planning part of the plan? If yes, describe.

        Does the plan include home counseling or home contact? If yes, how often?

34. What kind of linkages does your facility have with services in geographic areas outside of the program's vicinity? Are they accessed as part of the continuing care plan?

35. Does the intensity of treatment match the intensity of continuing care? If yes, how?

36. Do you link adolescents to Twelve Step meetings as part of their continuing care?

37. Are regular check-ups conducted following discharge? If so, what is the time frame? How are the check-ups conducted?

38. Are adolescents linked with community services upon discharge? If yes, which services?

Gender and Cultural Competence

39. Are adolescent boys and girls offered the same treatment? If not, how is it different for each gender? How do male and female specific sessions differ?

40. Does the program offer services for gay and lesbian youth? Minority youth?

41. If the program is co-ed, are there safety measures in place to ensure boundaries between patients and staff?

Discipline

42. How are children disciplined if rules are not followed at your facilities?

        Who carries out this discipline?

        What is your policy on the use of force?

These questions are only needed for boot camps and other behavioral modification or juvenile justice programs:

43. Has there ever been an instance where a child has been seriously injured or died as a result of activities at the facility? If yes, how did this happen?

44. Have there ever been any legal suits against the facility? If yes, please explain.

Outcomes

45. Are there evaluations or any other type of studies completed on your program?
If yes:

What were the results of this evaluation?
Can I receive a copy of the study?
Was the evaluation conducted internally or externally?

Other

46. What common questions about your program and/or treatment do you get from parents?