title: A national survey of the use of couples therapy in substance abuse treatment.
abstract: Although results from multiple studies conducted over the last two decades indicate that Behavioral Couples Therapy (BCT) is an effective treatment for married or cohabiting alcohol- and drug-abusing patients, both in terms of reduced substance use and improved relationship satisfaction, it is unclear whether BCT or other types of couples-based interventions are used in community-based substance abuse treatment programs. In the present study, program administrators (e.g., executive directors, clinical directors, staff physicians) from 398 randomly selected community-based outpatient substance abuse treatment programs in the U.S. were interviewed regarding use of different family- and couples-based therapies in their programs. According to the program administrators, 27% of the programs provided some type of couples-based treatment. However, less than 5% of the agencies used behaviorally oriented couples therapy and none used BCT specifically. Recommendations for researchers and clinicians to increase the use of BCT in community-based treatment programs are provided.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute on Addictions, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, 1021 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 04203-1016, USA. wstewart@ria.buffalo.edu
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Fals-Stewart
authors.forename: G R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Birchler
mesh_terms: D019546:Couples Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D016320:Substance Abuse Treatment Centers; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000628:therapy*