The therapeutic community in theory and practice

To obtain an operational description of the therapeutic community, the authors reviewed recent literature and composed a 40-item questionnaire describing aspects of the therapeutic community. The questionnaire was mailed to authors of recently published articles or books on the subject, 27 of whom responded with ratings of the degree to which each item was characteristic of a therapeutic community. The validated questionnaire was then completed by 22 staff members on four psychiatric wards of a university-affiliated municipal hospital, who rated the items in terms of real and ideal conditions on the ward. Comparisons of the real and ideal ratings are discussed.