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Drug use and employment patterns before and during treatment
The International Journal of the Addictions
|November 1, 1978
Summary
Treatment duration shows limited impact on reducing drug use after three months. Early opiate use predicts longer treatment retention, but not overall success. Employment status remains unchanged regardless of treatment progress.
Area of Science:
- Addiction medicine
- Clinical psychology
- Public health
Background:
- Assessing treatment success in addiction recovery is complex.
- Outcome measures require careful selection for accurate evaluation.
- Understanding factors influencing treatment retention is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between treatment duration and success indicators.
- To determine the impact of initial drug use severity on treatment outcomes.
- To analyze the correlation between treatment progress and employment status.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study design tracking patients over time.
- Urine-analysis used to monitor opiate use.
- Pretreatment and ongoing opiate use data collected.
- Employment status assessed at intake and during follow-up.
Main Results:
- Opiate use reduction is minimal after the first three months of treatment.
- Clients with lower initial opiate use tend to stay in treatment longer.
- No significant correlation found between pretreatment opiate use and later use.
- Employment status at intake strongly predicts continued employment during treatment.
Conclusions:
- Treatment duration beyond three months has limited additional impact on reducing opiate use.
- Early-stage opiate use is a better predictor of treatment retention than initial severity.
- Employment stability is largely independent of changes in opiate use during treatment.