This paper reports on a program comparing female drug users who participated in a treatment program with a group who did not participate.
The comparative study used an opportunity sample to test the hypothesis that women who receive larger amounts of specific services have a lower failure rate than those who receive a smaller amount, where failure is defined as five or more positive results for drugs, five or more missing urine samples, issuance of parole warrant or rearrest. The two groups were not different in terms of age, education and other criteria. Marian House residents (the treatment group) did significantly better than women on regular COP parole. Contributing to such a difference appeared to be the fact that Marian House offered significantly more hours of service per month, offered a counseling program that taught women useful skills, and gave those services immediately. Tables, figures