Patient-staff governance in methadone maintenance treatment: a study in participative decision making.
To help counteract some methadone patients' unfavorable attitudes to treatment and consequent antitherapeutic behaviors, a participative decision-making model was implemented in two methadone maintenance programs. Team building was used to initiate collaboration between patients and staff, resulting in the establishment of joint patient-staff governance committees. Outcomes as measured by the Client Attitudes Toward Methadone Programs (CAMP) Scale (a new instrument developed for the study) and by patients' supplementary drug use showed no statistically significant changes. The process evaluation, however, indicated that the committees had positive results in increasing communication and understanding between patients and staff, and in improving the efficiency of certain clinic procedures. The study analyzes the organizational dilemmas encountered in implementing participative decision making in drug treatment programs and gives recommendations for promoting future work in this area.
Magura
S
S
Narcotic and Drug Research, Inc., New York, New York.
Goldsmith
D S
DS
Casriel
C
C
Lipton
D S
DS
Goldstein
P J
PJ
Spunt
B J
BJ
Strug
D L
DL
D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D003657:Decision Making; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006280:Health Workforce; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008691:Methadone / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009519:New York City; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010358:Patient Participation; D011367:Professional Staff Committees; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation
D008691:Methadone