An evaluation of residential treatment programs for young offenders in the Waterloo region

This paper chronicles a comprehensive evaluation of 6 residential facilities for young offenders located within the region of Waterloo. Two kinds of research methodologies were employed in the investigation. One was primarily quantitative in nature, involving the completion of standardized scales for each of the youths who participated in the study (N = 129). The other was qualitative in nature, and involved interviews with a small sample of "graduates" from the centres (N = 9), and some of their parents and guardians (N = 4). Residential treatment was associated with significant improvements on the 2 measures developed specifically for the evaluation: a measure which focused on the specific goals which had been assigned to youths while in the program (Catalogue of Goals for Youth in Residence), and the global index of youth functioning which was empirically generated from residential case files (Inventory of Work Life and Social Skills). Qualitative interviews with program graduates and selected parents and guardians generally confirmed the positive evaluation of the impact of residential facilities on youths and served as the foundation for a series of recommendations for programmatic modifications and improvements.