A critique of models and measures of treatment readiness in offenders

Assessing offender readiness for treatment has major implications in terms of determining program referrals, dropout rates and, hence, program efficiency and efficacy. To be treatment ready means that the offender is motivated, finds programming relevant and meaningful, and has the capacity to successfully engage in and complete treatment. The objective of this paper is to systematically review the current methods of defining and measuring the construct of offender treatment readiness. A review of 11 measures assessing treatment readiness is described. Commonalities and differences between the measures are discussed, as well as their psychometric properties and different theoretical models. This paper concludes that there is a lack of consensus regarding the construct of treatment readiness and highlights the need for its standardized assessment. While there are various instruments developed to examine treatment readiness, there have been few efforts in validating the variables and elements encompassed by this construct. The need for a solid theoretical model is identified. Implications regarding best practices are described, as well as future directions on how to develop a psychometrically sound measure.