Conceptualizing and assessing treatment structure and process in community-based drug dependency treatment programs

Having established the effectiveness of drug dependency treatment, the next generation of research will necessitate a focus on treatment structure and process and the systems within which programs operate. As a foundation for a process conceptualization, we constructed a grounded theory definition o f treatment consisting of core elements and related comprehensive services. We then presented the multilevel conceptual framework that guided the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study (DATOS) treatment structure and process stud y design and instrumentation, anchored by supporting empirical literature. The framework emphasizes seven critical levels of process measurement that future research should consider in order to avoid potential spurious findin gs.