Failure and drug use intervention the Behavioral and Attitudinal Modification Project (BAM): A Failed Experiment Using a Classical Experimental Research Design in a Closed Institutional Setting for Drug Addicts

Abstract

Failure in program implementation and related research within closed institutional settings has long been a source of discouragement for correctional administrators and correctional researchers. This paper describes an attempt to implement an innovative treatment program, The Experimental Behavioral and Attitudinal Modification Project, within a civil addict treatment facility to enhance treatment effectiveness. It documents the major obstacles to correctional program innovation and research which ultimately brought about disruption, complacent cooperation, and other implementation problems leading to a project shutdown. It also attempts to place in theoretical perspective the reasons behind implementation failures, particularly as they relate to innovations in treatment and the use of classical experimental designs in closed institutional settings. The article is adapted from the executive summary of the final report to the funding agency. Researchers working to facilitate the effective reintegration of drug-using offenders into society should take heed from this research project, originally implemented in 1970, as a study in FAILURE as apropos today as it was over two decades ago.

Key Words:

• Correctional research failure
• Experimental design failure
• Implementation failure
• Obstacles to correctional innovation
• Addiction research