title: Risk factors, attendance, and abstinence patterns of low-income women in perinatal addiction treatment: lessons from a 5-year program.
abstract: The purpose of this article is to describe the risk factors, attendance, and abstinence patterns of 40 women who attended a model outpatient perinatal addiction treatment program throughout the 5 years it was funded. Data were regularly collected through use of semistructured interviews, randomly scheduled urine toxicology tests, document reviews, and self-reports, in a descriptive field study design. Mean age of the women was 29 years. They remained in the program an average of 7.89 months. A majority had two or more children, most (90%) were single parents, and 70% were currently in an abusive relationship. Abstinence was positively associated with length of time in the program (r = .4208; p < .01). Attendance was also positively correlated with length of stay (r = .6723; p < .001) as well as abstinence (r = .4454; p < .01). Results suggest that program attendance can be a powerful influence on abstinence, even in the face of the environmental stressors and developmental risk factors that place each woman at increased risk of relapse.
authors.affiliation: Project Hope, Columbus Hospital, Chicago, Illinois, USA. dnardi@haw1.iun.indiana.edu
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Nardi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010349:Patient Compliance; D011203:Poverty; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012307:Risk Factors; D016320:Substance Abuse Treatment Centers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors