title: The relationship between legal factors and attrition from a residential drug abuse treatment program.
abstract: This article examines the legal involvement of 438 clients randomized to three- and six-month versions of a residential drug abuse treatment program with respect to early attrition (before 40 days in treatment) and later attrition (40-79 days in treatment). Concern about legal problems was reported by 21% of subjects in response to an open-ended question about factors that led to admission; 42% had other legal circumstances that were determined either from documented evidence of legal involvement from chart review or from self-report through structured questioning about legal status. For those with "concern about legal problems" the early attrition rate was 16%, compared with 33% for those with no legal factors--odds ratio (OR) .38 with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) (.20,.73) and the later attrition rate was 25%, OR .76, 95% CI (.39,1.48). Those subjects with "legal circumstances" only had an early attrition rate of 29%--OR .86, 95% CI (.54,1.37) and a later attrition rate of 19%, OR .53, 95% CI (.29,.98) compared to those with no legal factors. There was little evidence of confounding in any of these results from adjusted analyses. Findings suggest that only self-reported concern about legal status as a problem mentioned at entry to treatment is significantly associated with lower early attrition and there is no significant relationship of legal factors with later attrition.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, University of Massachusetts, Amherst 01003, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vickers-Lahti
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Garfield
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McCusker
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hindin
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bigelow
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Love
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lewis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003415:Crime; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012114:Residential Treatment / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D016896:Treatment Outcome