title: Women, Co-occurring Disorders, and Violence Study: evaluation design and study population.
abstract: The Women, Co-occurring Disorders, and Violence Study (WCDVS) was a multi-site cooperative study to evaluate new service models for women with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders and a history of physical and/or sexual abuse. Despite common features in the service interventions and evaluation procedures, diversity across the nine sites plus differences introduced by non-random assignment led to numerous methodological challenges. This article describes the design, measurement, and analysis decisions behind the WCDVS and lays the foundation for understanding participant-level outcomes and service costs. This article also describes the study population, as recruited and following attrition at the 6-month follow-up, in order to address the threat of selection bias to inferences drawn from this multi-site study.
authors.affiliation: Gregory J. McHugo, NH-Dartmouth Psychiatric Research Center, Dartmouth Medical School, Lebanon, NH 03766, USA. gregory.mchugo@dartmouth.edu
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: McHugo
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kammerer
authors.forename: E W
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Markoff
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gatz
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Larson
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mazelis
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hennigan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D002648:Child; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000191:economics / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015897:Comorbidity; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012107:Research Design; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000191:economics / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D014481:United States; D014754:Violence / Q000191:economics / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014932:Women's Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000600:supply & distribution*