Family Involvement in Three Adolescent Residential Treatment Centers

by Larson, Wesley W

Family participation in residential treatment for disturbed adolescents has increased over time. A general sense of this movement is that this is beneficial. However, there are no common discriptions of family involvement in residential treatment in the literature. In order to be able to better understand which components of famiy involvement are most beneficial, we need to first understand how residential treatment centers define and describe famiy involvement. This study compiled data from interviews with nine participants, one each from administration, therapy staff, and direct care staff level of three northern Utah RTCs that claimed family involvement in youth treatment at their centers.