ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the accuracy of program descriptions and the use of the Community Oriented Programs Environment Scale to monitor program change and promote program improvement. Shady Glen is a small community care home for women who have been discharged from hospital treatment and are trying to resume community living. It is located in a comfortable home in an urban residential area. Knowledge about a program's social climate is important for prospective patients and staff, for referral and other community agencies, and for individuals interested in new developments in the field. The program descriptions that have been written to fill these needs have depended primarily on program manager's appraisals, supplemented by surveys that cover physical features, staff and residents' characteristics, and treatment orientation. Descriptions of treatment programs should provide as accurate and complete a picture as possible of these programs' essential characteristics. One major reason for inaccurate program descriptions is that important information about the program is left out.
