Ward atmosphere changes during restructuring of an alcoholism treatment center. A quasi-experimental study

At an Alcoholism Treatment Center which was under restructuring, the Ward Atmosphere Scale (WAS) was used to study the effect of changes on the climate of two wards. Before implementation, after the first phase of changes one year later, and after the second phase changes a year later, patients (n1 = 19, n2 = 16, n3 = 23) and staff members (n1 = 21, n2 = 24, n3 = 25) filled out WAS forms. The patients were divided into two groups according to a quasi-experimental design. In a Short-term intensive inpatient unit all of the restructuring was implemented, whereas only some were in a Half-way house. The Short-term intensive patients reported significant improvements between the second and the third assessment (p less than .05) and between the first and the third year (p less than .02), but not from the first to the second year. The Half-way house patients showed no significant improvements. The patients altogether reported significant improvements in six subvariables of the eight hypothesized. The total WAS score of the staff increased significantly each year (p less than .01), and there was a clear improvement between the first and third assessment (p less than .001). The staff reported significant improvements from the first to the third assessment in seven subvariables of the eight hypothesized.