Outcomes in residential treatment for youth: The role of early engagement

Client engagement is commonly believed to be an important condition for the attainment of positive outcomes in human services. This paper addresses client engagement in the context of residential treatment centers (RTCs) for youth. Three waves of data from interviews with adolescents in two RTCs are used to test hypotheses reflecting competing explanations for whether and how engagement may relate to self-view, school, and family outcomes. Findings suggest that youths who are more engaged early in treatment tend to have more positive outcomes, lesser engaged youths show the greatest degree of positive change, and that a relationship between early engagement and certain outcomes, but not others, may be mediated by certain treatment interventions.