DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF THE ACTIVE TREATMENT CLIENT RIGHTS CHECKLIST

The role of active treatment has been recognized as vital to the habil itation of persons with mental retardation; however evaluating the pro vision of active treatment has been difficult. This study describes th e development of the Active Treatment Client Rights checklist (ATCR), which was designed to facilitate the assessment, monitoring, and imple mentation of readily observable client active treatment services. This investigation provides an explanation of item content, initial reliab ility data (Phase I), and the results of implementation of the ATCR ov er a 2-year period in an ICF/MR facility with 29 living units serving nearly 500 clients (Phase II). The ATCR is highly reliable, valid, and useful in enhancing staff provision of active treatment. The most sen sitive indicator of active treatment was shown to be related to freque ncy of functional interactions between clients and staff.