NCJ Number
194721
Journal
Substance Use & Misuse Volume: 37 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2002 Pages: 19-45
Date Published
2002
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This study examined the treatment follow-up difficulties for substance abusers using data from the District of Columbia Treatment Initiative (DCI).
Abstract
The objective of this study was to answer four main questions regarding the treatment follow-up of substance abusers: (1) Are clients who are interviewed post-treatment different from those who are not interviewed? (2) Is it possible to distinguish at in-take which clients will be more difficult to follow-up post-treatment? (3) Do the characteristics of clients at follow-up interviews relate to tracking difficulties? and (4) Do sample estimates change as clients who are difficult to find are added to the sample? The authors used data from the District of Columbia Treatment Initiative (DCI) to answer these questions. The DCI was a treatment outcome study designed to test the effectiveness of inpatient therapeutic community treatment in Washington, DC. The sample consisted of 412 clients who were randomly assigned to one of two residential drug treatment facilities between February 1992 and January 1994. An effort was made to relocate and interview all 412 clients 31 months after the last client left the treatment facility. The researchers were successful in locating and interviewing 93 percent of the 412 clients. The findings of the current study suggest that clients who successfully completed their treatment program were more likely to be successful post-treatment. The age and number of prior arrests of the client were positively related to difficulty in treatment follow-up. Those clients who were easiest to reach for treatment follow-up were more likely to be employed post-treatment, while those most difficult to locate were more likely to be abusing drugs and to be arrested following treatment. The authors concluded this study by observing that treatment follow-up studies were usually hampered by difficulties in follow-up rates. Those clients who have left drug abuse treatment facilities were often difficult to locate for post-treatment follow-up, thus handicapping the ability of researchers to gage the success of drug treatment programs. 11 Tables, 15 references