Youth retention: factors associated with treatment drop-out from youth alcohol and other drug treatment.
OBJECTIVE
This study examined factors associated with treatment drop-out among young people aged 13-19 years attending alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment.


METHODS
Data were gathered from structured interviews (n = 79) and a clinical file search of 184 randomly selected young people who had attended youth specific AOD treatment services in Aotearoa, New Zealand during 2003 or 2004.


RESULTS
The median length of stay was 2.7 months for those attending day/residential services (n = 42) and 4.0 sessions for those attending outpatient services (n = 37) 16.7% of participants from day/residential services dropped out of treatment early (within the first month) and 32.4% of participants from outpatient treatment services dropped out of treatment early (before the third session). Fixed client characteristics, such as age, sex, ethnicity, substance use and mental health diagnoses were not found to be associated with treatment retention. Dynamic client characteristics, such as motivation to attend treatment and expectations about treatment outcomes and program characteristics, such as positive experiences with treatment staff and feeling involved in the treatment process were found to be associated with treatment retention.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings of this study support previous research indicating that fixed client characteristics are not sufficient to explain youth retention in AOD treatment. Of more use are dynamic client characteristics and program variables. These findings stress the potential for improving treatment retention by creating more youth appropriate services.
Schroder
Ria
R
National Addiction Centre, Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand. ria.schroder@otago.ac.nz
Sellman
Doug
D
Frampton
Chris
C
Deering
Daryle
D
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000523:psychology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D016320:Substance Abuse Treatment Centers / Q000639:trends; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult