Social functioning outcomes among individuals with substance use disorders receiving internet-delivered community...

The community reinforcement approach (CRA) is an evidence-based practice for the treatment of substance use disorders and achieving and maintaining abstinence, but few studies have systematically explored the effect of CRA on secondary, yet also important outcomes, such as social functioning.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether an internet-based version of the CRA plus contingency management is associated with improved social functioning of individuals seeking substance use disorder treatment in a multi-site clinical effectiveness trial.

Social functioning was measured using the 54-item Social Adjustment Scale assessing role performance in six domains (work, social and leisure activities, extended family relationships, marital relationship, parenting, and immediate family). Generalized linear mixed models tested the effects of treatment, time, sex, baseline abstinence, baseline social functioning and baseline psychological distress on overall social functioning and across social functioning subscales at the end of the 12-week treatment phase and 3 and 6 months post treatment.

Results showed no significant association between treatment and total social functioning score or any subscale scores. Being male was significantly associated with better social functioning overall at the end of treatment (p = .024). Higher levels of psychological distress at baseline predicted significantly worse social functioning at the end of treatment overall (p = .037).

The addition of an internet-based version of the CRA was not associated with greater improvements in social functioning compared to standard outpatient care after 12 weeks of treatment. Implications for internet-delivered CRA are discussed.