A cognitive-behavioral therapeutic community for substance dependent and homeless veterans: treatment outcome

This paper presents data regarding a residential rehabilitation program that integrates cognitive-behavioral and therapeutic community techniques to treat homelessness and substance abuse. The study cohort was 110 military veterans admitted to a Domiciliary Care for Homeless Veterans program of the Department of Veterans Affairs. The cohort had multiple psychosocial problems at admission, and all had drug/alcohol abstinence as a treatment goal. Structured interviews conducted at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months postdischarge revealed that a substantial proportion had positive outcomes with respect to housing, substance abuse abstinence, employment, and self-rated psychological symptoms. This integrated cognitive-behavioral therapeutic community approach appears to be a viable treatment for this subset of homeless and also may be effective for other populations with similar clinical characteristics.