Adherence to court-ordered disulfiram at fifteen months: a naturalistic study.
Previously, we observed that the presence of a court-mandate doubled adherence to supervised disulfiram treatment over voluntary supervised disulfiram treatment during the initial twelve weeks. To assess persistence, we conducted a naturalistic followup study of adherence at 15 months in 19 voluntary and 17 court-ordered patients from the original groups. Treatment adherence, measured by the percentage of completed disulfiram clinic visits during the study period, was significantly higher in court-ordered subjects: 61.0% vs. 18.2% in the voluntary group (p<.0001). The data suggest that court assistance can exert a significant effect in maintaining adherence. Factors mediating adherence, as well as the effects of adherence on behavior change and abstinence, must be determined through prospective, controlled study.
Martin
Brandon K
BK
Mental Health Service, DVA (116), 1055 Clermont Street, Denver, CO 80220, USA.
Clapp
Lori
L
Alfers
Julie
J
Beresford
Thomas P
TP
D000427:Alcohol Deterrents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004221:Disulfiram / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007603:Jurisprudence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014481:United States
D000427:Alcohol Deterrents; D004221:Disulfiram