Measurement Tools Utilized to Assess Specialty Groups for Drug Court Participants

This article describes the initial construction of measurement instruments for use in an enhanced drug court program in Orange County, California. The evaluation instruments include pre- and post-test surveys that assess 11 specialty groups utilized in this drug court. The specialty groups offered to drug court participants were designed to increase program retention and successful completion of the drug court program. The survey instruments discussed herein measure clients’ knowledge gained during treatment, the extent to which group objectives were achieved, and overall participant satisfaction with the groups. The survey instruments are discussed in detail and are included as appendices, in hopes that they may provide other drug courts employing similar specialty groups with an evaluation tool that could be standardized and utilized for comparison across jurisdictions.