The Community-Oriented Programs Environment Scale (COPES), Form I, which asks clients about their expectations of an ideal treatment environment, was administered to 51 dropouts and 151 completers who began a four-week inpatient programme for alcoholics. A discriminant analysis did not reveal significant differences between dropouts and completers on the COPES subscales. It was concluded that this instrument may not be a useful early predictor of dropouts. Estimations of expectation disconfirmation were derived for each client by calculating the difference between the client's subscale scores on Form I of the COPES and the therapist's subscale scores on Form R of the COPES (which asks about perceptions of the real treatment environment). Comparison of dropouts and completers in terms of these difference scores indicated that this information was also not useful for the early prediction of dropouts. The results are related to previous findings in the literature on client expectations and dropping out of treatment. The potential utility of conventional approaches to the prediction of dropouts is questioned. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate