"Have a Judge Who Makes Good Speeches": Concept Mapping Client and Team Member Perspectives on Keys to Success in a Family Drug Court

Purpose:  Previous research suggests that family drug courts improve outcomes for substance affected families compared to traditional family courts.  However, social science has yet to determine what about family drug courts lead to their improved performance.  Without knowledge of FDC best practices, individual courts are left to develop program guidelines themselves, and the effectiveness of the FDC model cannot be driven forward.  Scholars have called for empirical inquiry into the mechanisms of change within the FDC model in order to begin articulating evidence-based best practices.  Responding to this gap in the literature, this study used an innovative participatory action research tool called Concept Mapping to capture family drug court best practices from the perspective of FDC team members and clients.

Method: The process of concept mapping entails five phases: (1) data generation, (2) sorting the data; (3) rating the data; (4) data analysis and (5) interpretation (Kane & Trochim, 2007).   Study participants included clients and team members from an urban, Midwestern FDC and were recruited through convenience and snowball sampling techniques (N = 36).  Participants completed data generation, which resulted in 141 distinct responses to the focus prompt (To help participants reach a successful outcome, a family drug court program will ­­­­­________.)    Participants then thematically sorted these 141 items and rated them according to perceived importance (on a scale of 1-5).   The analysis of participants’ sorts and rates generated clusters and concept maps.   Initial interpretation of the results was performed by the researchers and checked by participants.

Results:  The 141 elements clustered around 6 critical themes: 1) Effective Team Member Characteristics & Behaviors; 2) Address Distinct Needs of Parent, Child & Family; 3) Treatment, Counseling & Case Management; 4) Interpersonal & Structural Support; 5) Specialized Services & Use of Sanctions; and 6) Client/Judge Relationship.  The generated concept maps depict the perceived importance according to participants.  Clients rated theme 4) Interpersonal & Structural Support as most important of the six.  Team members rated theme 1) Effective Team Member Characteristics & Behaviors as most important.  Clients and team members had similar importance ratings on themes 3), 4) and 5), but differed on themes 1), 2) and 6).  The extent of disagreement was most pronounced with theme 6) Client/Judge Relationship, which clients rated as markedly more important than team members who rated it as the least important out of the six themes.  Clients consistently placed greater relative importance on the relational aspects of the court.

Implications: This research represents an early effort at unlocking the black box of family drug courts.  The findings from this study suggest that six themes are important to success in family drug courts, including the significance of interpersonal interactions between the judge, team and clients.  Future research should begin selectively examining the six components to understand their unique impact on positive outcomes.  Scholars must also evaluate productive, yet statutorily feasible, relationship building in a courtroom environment.  Furthering the evidence-base of family drug courts will improve their outcomes, and benefit the lives of substance-involved parents and their children.