0 - National Criminal Justice Reference Service

The REST consists of 1 11 questions organized into 18 subscales. Item response
categories are based on a Likert scale that ranges fiom 1 (“Strongly Disagree”) to 7 (“Strongly
Agree”). The first set of REST subscales of interest in this study deal withpsychozogicd
functioning, including measures of self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and self-efficacy.
Research on addiction has indicated that psychopathology fiequently coexists with drug
abuse (Woody, McLellan, Luborsky, and O’Brien, 1990). Feelings of loneliness, sadness, intense
pressure fiom the outside world, and feelings of inadequacy are among the psychological states
linked to drug-abusing individuals. Knight, Holcolm, and Simpson (1994:2) have applied the
Health Belief Model (Rosenstock, 1966) to drug treatment, arguing that “an individual’s level of
psychological and social functioning directly influences the perceived threat of drug abuse and
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subsequent steps taken to prevent it or treat it.” Therefore, an important component of drug
treatment is to first assess the inmate’s psychosocial hctioning and address any needs identified.
Self Esteem. Self-esteem has been positively related to drug treatment outcomes. For
example, Berry and Sipps (1991) found that clients with low self-esteem tend to spend less time in
drug treatment programs and are less likely to successfblly complete treatment. Prior research has
shown the self-esteem scale to have high alpha reliability coefficients (see Simpson, 1991;
Simpson, Knight, and Ray, 1993).
Depression. The second scale is a measure of depression. Untreated depression can have
negative effects on treatment. A depressed individual may commit acts that, although risky and
disruptive, help pull them out of their depression (Malow, Corrigan, Pew Calkins, and Bannister,
1992). The depression scale has consistently displayed high alpha coefficient reliabilities
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(Simpson, 1991, Simpson et a]., 1993). Simpson (1 991) reported a test-retest reliability
coefficient of .86. Evidence of validity of the depression subscale of the REST comes fiom its
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This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not
been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)
and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.