Problem-solving types among high-risk IDUs. Potential treatment implications

This research investigated whether high-risk injection drug users (IDUs) manifest distinct types, or profiles, of interpersonal cognitive problem-solving (ICPS) abilities. Four measures of ICPS, the Means-Ends Problem-Solving procedure (MEPS), Optional Thinking Test (OTT), Awareness of Consequences Test (ACT), and Causal Thinking Test (CTT), were administered to 140 IDUs who volunteered for NIDA Demonstration Projects in Newark and Jersey City, NJ, to study high-risk behaviors in drug users and their sexual partners. At time of initial contact, none of the subjects was currently enrolled in a treatment program. Hierarchical and nonhierachical cluster analyses were used with the MEPS, OTT, ACT, and CTT scores, and five IDU problem-solving types were identified. These types represented below-average, causal, generational, consequential, and above-average problem-solving skills. A rational conceptualization of potential treatment implications for each of these types of IDU problem solvers is discussed.