Despite the critical importance of process evaluations to enhancing the efficiency and long-term effectiveness of chemical dependency treatment programs, attention to process-related dimensions of treatment programming has been largely neglected. Using data collected on youthful offenders with chemical dependency treatment needs in the Texas Youth Commission, this article provides a systematic and empirical process evaluation of factors associated with successful program progress in the Texas Youth Commission's Chemical Dependency Treatment Program. Analyses focus on appropriate program placement and whether and to what extent risk, dynamic or criminogenic need, behavioral, and treatment amenability factors are related to several key measures of program progress—including completion or expulsion, days to completion or expulsion, and performance—as well as to variation among these outcomes across treatment sites. Policy and research implications of these analyses and of process evaluations are discussed.
