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ASTART Report: Treatment Research Lacks Good Science

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wdtony:
Great post Ursus.

Reminded me about KHK's success rate being close to 90%. My mother helped gather the research when she was on executive staff as public relations director at the program. She later told me some details.

*For instance only program graduates were included in the "study".
*The data was gathered by phone calls only.
*If no one answered or didn't want to be a part of the study, they were not included.
*The study was conducted entirely by KHK executive staff and sent to a research organization to print the findings. These "fondings" were written as KHK had sent them and transposed as KHK wished. KHK (and KHK only) directly paid the research organization.
*There were only 50 or 60 people who were included in the study (my mother made most of the calls).
*The questions asked were about current drug use, had they stayed sober etc. These were questions which if someone were to admit to having relapsed, this could have resulted in dire consequences for the ex-program kid. My mother knew that to tell the truth about these questions was unlikely.

i.e. a totally bogus study.

Strangely enough (prior to the bogus study my mother took part in) KHK used a licensed psychologist/program parent to conduct a "real study of KHK's methods and outcomes. After this study was concluded, it was quickly hidden away due to the fact that it proved that the methods used in KHK were not helpful and, in fact, harmful and less effective than other treatment methods in general.

I know this "legitimate" study occurred because it is written in old KHK newsletters that I possess, but there is no trace of this study existing otherwise. It has merely been disappeared.

Ursus:

--- Quote from: "wdtony" ---Strangely enough (prior to the bogus study my mother took part in) KHK used a licensed psychologist/program parent to conduct a "real study of KHK's methods and outcomes. After this study was concluded, it was quickly hidden away due to the fact that it proved that the methods used in KHK were not helpful and, in fact, harmful and less effective than other treatment methods in general.

I know this "legitimate" study occurred because it is written in old KHK newsletters that I possess, but there is no trace of this study existing otherwise. It has merely been disappeared.
--- End quote ---
I bet a lot of folks would be grateful (I know *I* would be) if you transcribed or scanned those sections mentioning that old study and posted them somewhere on this forum. I imagine that the results probably didn't get published in the newsletters (save perhaps in diluted form), but the mere fact that this study was undertaken, and then dropped, is quite telling.

It might also inspire someone else to add to those posts, who may have more info or who may know what happened to that study. Ya never know...

wdtony:
Yes, they are in diluted form. I will attempt to scan and post them online somehow. Then I will post the link here.

Ursus:
From the above article:

Researcher not "independent," and Aspen not just a "participant"

The Aspen Education Group ("Aspen") website is misleading when it begins to describe the research by stating "Aspen Education Group participated in the nation's first large-scale study of its kind"—Aspen funded the research on their own programs, making them far more than just "participants." Aspen's website also claims that the study was conducted by an independent research company, yet Behrens's company, Canyon Consulting, was hired and paid by Aspen to perform this research, which can influence objectivity.[/list][/size]
Canyon Research & Consulting, if I'm not mistaken, primarily does research on Aspen programs (although there was a preliminary "study" done for Redcliff Ascent prior to the study that came out in 2006). I wonder if many folk being bombarded with this marketing hooplah presented as "research" ... really know the full extent of Behren's associations with programs?

wdtony:
In the newsletters it states that a grant was being sought for this study about KHK's methods. But, in other newsletters it is stated that the government grant for the study was not granted. I think this was the smokescreen to cover the bad study.

I do not have every newsletter posted online yet, but somewhere I had read that the executive staff member had conducted this study with negative results.

I am sorry that I can't find that newsletter, but I will look through my files and try to find it.

At any rate, if Penny Walker (Program Director) wanted a true, research study about KHK that would have increased profits, it would have been conducted.

In her 25 years as program director, she never produced such a study. I will keep looking.

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