0 - National Criminal Justice Reference Service

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(Simpson, 1997). Items assess the extent to which an inmate feels part of a family or community,
whether other clients care about the inmate and his problems, and whether lother clients are
helpfill. This variable forms the very cornerstone of the TC philosophy (DeLeon, 2000).
Counselor Rating; of Client (CRC)
An additional set of perceptions critical to assessing treatment progress and process is that
of the counselors themselves. In addition to running various treatment groups and classes, the
counselors on a TC unit are often assigned to work with a certain number of inmates on a one-toone
basis. The expectation is that a close relationship can be formed with the counselor, forming a
bond that will help lead to successful recovery.
The CRC instrument (see Appendix 6) asks counselors to rate various client attributes on
a set of adjectives (e.g., honest, sincere) using a Likert scale ranging fiom 1 (“Strongly Disagree”)
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to 7 (“Strongly Agree”). Counselors are also asked to indicate the extent to which counseling
activities with each client are focused on specific activities pertinent to recovery, including relapse
situations and triggers (Hiller, Knight, Rao, and Simpson, 2000:16).
Hiller, Knight, Rao and Simpson (2000) conducted a factor analysis to determine major
themes of the CRC. Through the use of exploratory factor analysis, four clearly identifiable
factors had Eigenvalues greater than 1. The fist factor was identified as treatment engagement
(coefficient alpha = .89), composed of eight items describing an inmate’s individual involvement
in treatment. Counselors strongly agreed to statements such as the inmate “participates in group
discussions”, pays attention”, and “clearly expresses thoughts and feelings” (Hiller et al.,
2000:16). The second scale was labeled rapport with others (coefficient alpha = .86). This scale
was comprised of seven attributes, with counselors strongly agreeing that the inmate is “easy to
talk to”, ‘’warm and caring”, liked by other inmates”, and “liked by staff’ (Hiller et al., 2000: 16).
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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.