Essential elements of treatment: a comparative study between European and American therapeutic communities for addiction

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether European and American therapeutic communities (TCs) for addiction, both traditional and modified, share a common perspective on what is essential in treatment using the Survey of Essential Elements Questionnaire (SEEQ). The European sample (N = 19) was gathered in 2009. For the American sample (N = 19) we used previously published research data. Despite comparable perspectives, European traditional TCs (N = 11) scored significantly higher than their American predecessors (N = 11) on 4 SEEQ domains. Cluster differences were more pronounced in Europe than in America.