Treatment services in two national studies of community-based drug abuse treatment programs

Findings from a number of sources over the past decade have documented a decline in the resources available for drug abuse treatment and the services being provided to clients in community-based drug abuse treatment programs. We compared client reports of services received and unmet service needs in a national crossmodality sample of clients in two studies of drug abuse treatment: the Treatment Outcome Prospective Study (TOPS), 1979-1981, and the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study (DATOS), 1991-1993. Findings showed a marked decrease over the past decade in the number and variety of services clients reported receiving. Most striking was the large increase in self-reported unmet service needs in the DATOS investigation. Although most clients reported having received at least some sessions of drug abuse counseling during treatment and the level of satisfaction with treatment and services was generally high across modalities, client reports indicated that drug abuse counseling alone did not address their wider ranging service needs. Programs in the methadone modality generally reflected the lowest level of drug abuse counseling and services.