title: Motivation to change and treatment attendance as predictors of alcohol-use outcomes among project-based Housing First residents.
abstract: Collins et al. (2012) indicated that time spent in a project-based Housing First (HF) intervention was associated with improved two-year alcohol-use trajectories among chronically homeless individuals with alcohol problems. To explore potential correlates of these findings, we tested the relative prediction of alcohol-use outcomes by motivation to change (MTC) and substance abuse treatment attendance. Participants (N=95) were chronically homeless individuals with alcohol problems receiving a project-based HF intervention in the context of a larger nonrandomized controlled trial (Larimer et al., 2009). Participants were interviewed regularly over the two-year follow-up. Treatment attendance and MTC were measured using items from the Addiction Severity Index and the SOCRATES, respectively. Alcohol-use outcomes included alcohol quantity, problems and dependence. Generalized estimating equation modeling indicated that MTC variables and not treatment attendance consistently predicted alcohol-use outcomes over the two-year follow-up. Findings suggest that the importance of motivation to change may outweigh treatment attendance in supporting alcohol behavior change in this population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, 325 9th Ave., Seattle, WA 98104, USA. collinss@uw.edu
authors.forename: Susan E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.forename: Daniel K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Malone
authors.forename: Mary E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Larimer
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D015205:Northwestern United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D057566:Self Report; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014504:Urban Health