Assessing Client Satisfaction with Treatment for Substance Use Problems and the Development of the Treatment Perceptions Questionnaire (TPQ)

Abstract

This report describes the development of a brief 10-item scale to measure client satisfaction with treatment for substance use problems. The Treatment Perceptions Questionnaire (TPQ) was developed from two independent studies. The first field study recruited 123 subjects from inpatient and community treatment programmes. Each respondent completed an interviewer-administered questionnaire comprising the TPQ and other measures of personal/social functioning and treatment processes and perceptions. A sub-sample (n = 38) participated in a three-day re-test administration of the instrument with two interviewers. In a second study of outcomes from oral and injectable methadone maintenance treatment, the TPQ was administered to a further 33 patients as part of a six-month outcome evaluation. Results from these studies show that the instrument has good construct and discriminant validity, good internal reliability and acceptable test-retest reliability. The TPQ can be used in research studies of treatment process and outcome and routine programme audit activities.

Key Words:

• Drug and alcohol treatment
• client satisfaction
• treatment perceptions