Relations between in-treatment and follow-up abstinence among cocaine-dependent homeless persons in three clinical trials.
Clinical trials with cocaine-dependent outpatients have found a strong relation between in-treatment and follow-up abstinence, and the strength of this relation is constant across treatment conditions with variable efficacy in generating abstinence. The authors conducted secondary analyses of data from 3 clinical trials to determine whether this relation generalizes to cocaine-dependent homeless persons. The 3 trials (total N = 543) were conducted in a community health care facility for homeless people. The 7 treatment arms across the 3 trials were combinations of day treatment, abstinence-contingent housing, and vocational training. Drug use was measured with urine toxicology testing. Consecutive weeks of abstinence during treatment were strongly related to abstinence at the 12-month follow-up, whether or not missing 12-month data were included in the analysis. The treatment arms differed in their efficacy in generating abstinence, but the relation between in-treatment and follow-up abstinence did not differ across treatment arms. These results replicate earlier reports of these relations and extend them to a population of homeless people. The lack of differences between treatment arms in the in-treatment-follow-up abstinence relation implies that that relation is independent of the treatment-specific intervention components that generate group differences in abstinence.
Vuchinich
Rudy
R
Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 35294-1170, USA. rvuchini@uab.edu
Wallace
Dennis
D
Milby
Jesse B
JB
Schumacher
Joseph E
JE
Mennemeyer
Stephen
S
Kertesz
Stefan
S
D000328:Adult; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D016896:Treatment Outcome