Meta-Analysis, Moderators, and Treatment Effectiveness: The Importance of Digging Deeper for Evidence of Program Integrity

Meta-analyses of the correctional treatment literature have become increasingly common in recent years. These studies generally indicate that well-crafted treatment programs substantially reduce rates of recidivism. Nevertheless, a key issue that has emerged concerns the relative absence of detailed information on treatment program characteristics from published reports and articles that can be used in moderator analyses (i.e., which types of program characteristics "matter" with regard to the magnitude of treatment effects). In this article, we argue that meta-analysts need to go beyond what can be found in such printed reports and to instead investigate more systematically the treatment programs themselves for additional information. If so, a richer and more policy-relevant body of literature can emerge concerning "what works" in offender treatment.