Hey it's me, the survey creator again. You're correct in that the survey is not measuring the treatment measures of the program, and yes the information asked for is very minimal. Basically all we're measuring is pre and post program drug use according to the Adolscent Drug Involvement Scale, a validated reaserach instrument. The purpose of the survey is to measure if the program is an effective means of treating adolscent drug use, because all though these programs are NOT licensed to do drug rehab or to detox kids, many students are sent there for those reasons. Basically we think that any research being done on these schools is better than the current research, which is next to NOTHING!
Your bias is showing. First, since WWASPS has so many programs, owned and operated by different people, your premise is screwed at square one. Common factors have more to do with marketing than treatment or care. You're treating membership in a business association as if it were a verifiable, consistent, or authentic factor of care or treatment. Why not ask about experience at specific types i.e. boot camps, rtc's, group homes, etc? I smell a witch hunt.
Second, there is research on a variety of programs. You can start with NATSAP's website, but there's a great deal of information available through the federal government as well. It's largely ignored by the social work and medical advocates because it shows how dismal the success rate of the social work/medical approach is. Are these outfits claiming to be drug treatment centers? Or is drug use co-occurring with other behavioral issues, but not necessarily a case of addiction? It seems to me you're assuming or trying to show that anyone bucking the financially entrenched but stagnant "drug rehab" or medical model is somehow unethical. The facts don't support your premise.
This kind of "research" (anonymous, self-reporting, flawed in approach and reasoning, based on assumed relationships and practices) is scary because non-thinking types will take it seriously.
