Services research outcomes study: overview of drug treatment population and outcomes.
The study examined a representative sample of the 1,060,000 individuals discharged from drug user treatment in the United States in the 12 months before September 1990, and compared self-reports of behavior 5 years before to 5 years after treatment. Self-reports about recent drug use were compared with urine samples, and the agreement between self-report and drug-test results was high. The key findings are that the number of alcohol and drug users declined markedly, ranging from one-seventh to more than one half; those who continued using drugs after treatment used them less frequently than before treatment; criminal behavior fell between one-quarter to one-half, and primary criminal support fell by one third; full-time employment did not change; homelessness, drug injection, and suicide attempts decreased by more than one-third.
Schildhaus
S
S
National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago, Washington Office, District of Columbia 20036, USA.
Gerstein
D
D
Brittingham
A
A
Cerbone
F
F
Dugoni
B
B
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003415:Crime / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012050:Rehabilitation, Vocational; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000534:rehabilitation; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D014481:United States; D000092864:Suicide Prevention