Process measures in interventions for drug-abusing women: from coping to competence.
As a guide to the selection of process and outcome measurement in interventions with drug-abusing women, we have offered a model of fundamental coping processes. Three coping processes--reinforcer management, challenge management, and affect management--appear critical to women's competence and physical hardiness. When these processes go awry, substance abuse is a likely result. For successful recovery from substance abuse, good fortune or purposeful intervention must promote these coping processes. To measure the impact of any intervention with drug-abusing women, methods of assessing fundamental coping processes during intervention (process measures) and repeatedly after intervention (outcome measures) are needed. We have described multiple methods of measuring fundamental coping processes from diverse vantage points: self-report, behavioral observation, biochemistry, and physiology. We have discussed how these measures relate to the theoretical model. Finally, we have indicated measures favored and used in our longitudinal and intervention research on adolescent and perinatal substance abuse. The final set of measures, as summarized in the list of recommended process and outcome measures on pages 324-325, is somewhat lengthy because the process of intervention is complex. Given the financial and structural limitations of research in drug treatment settings, it may not be possible for a single investigator to employ all the recommended measures. An adequate research design would employ two measures from each of the domains outlined. If resources allow, more extensive measurement procedures would be possible.
Blechman
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EA
Department of Psychology, University of Colorado, Boulder 80309-0345.
Wills
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TA
Adler
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V
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D012107:Research Design; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*