The health benefits of reductions in individuals' use of illegal drugs

The Effect of Vocational Counseling Interventions for Adults with Substance Use Disorders: A Narrative Review

The authors reviewed the research literature evaluating the effectiveness of vocational counseling interventions focused on employment for consumers with substance use disorders. This review included 11 articles related to vocational counseling interventions, which are either incorporated with substance use treatment or not. The results of this review revealed that vocational counseling services have been highly efficacious in resulting in part-time and full-time jobs. The study designs had some limitations, and few studies employed randomized control trials (RCT).

Predictors of Post-Treatment Employment for Individuals with Substance Use Disorders

This study examined the influence of gender, post-treatment issue severities, and treatment participation rate on the post-treatment employment status of consumers with substance use disorders. The study analyzed the archival data of 100 unemployed and underemployed participants from a substance abuse intensive outpatient program. We found significant differences in the characteristics of gender, severity of alcohol use, drug use, psychiatric issues, and treatment participation rate. Female gender and low treatment participation rates negatively predicted employment. This study increased understanding about the interplay of alcohol, drug, and psychiatric influences on post-treatment employment status.

Planting the seeds of change: Directionality in the narrative construction of recovery from addiction

OBJECTIVE

The dominant theoretical perspective that guides treatment evaluations in addiction assumes linearity in the relationship between treatment and outcomes, viewing behaviour change as a 'before and after event'. In this study we aim to examine how the direction of the trajectory of the process from addiction to recovery is constructed in personal narratives of active and recovering users.

DESIGN

21 life stories from individuals at different stages of recovery and active use were collected and analysed following the principles of narrative analysis.

RESULTS

Personal trajectories were constructed in discontinuous, non-linear and long lasting patterns of repeated, and interchangeable, episodes of relapse and abstinence. Relapse appeared to be described as an integral part of a learning process through which knowledge leading to recovery was gradually obtained.

CONCLUSION

The findings show that long-term recovery is represented as being preceded by periods of discontinuity before change is stabilised. Such periods are presented to be lasting longer than most short-term pre-post intervention designs can capture and suggest the need to rethink how change is defined and measured.

Using chi-Squared Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID) modelling to identify groups of methadone treatment clients experiencing significantly poorer treatment outcomes

In times of scarce resources it is important for services to make evidence based decisions when identifying clients with poor outcomes. chi-Squared Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID) modelling was used to identify characteristics of clients experiencing statistically significant poor outcomes. A national, longitudinal study recruited and interviewed, using the Maudsley Addiction Profile (MAP), 215 clients starting methadone treatment and 78% were interviewed one year later. Four CHAID analyses were conducted to model the interactions between the primary outcome variable, used heroin in the last 90 days prior to one year interview and variables on drug use, treatment history, social functioning and demographics. Results revealed that regardless of these other variables, males over 22 years of age consistently demonstrated significantly poorer outcomes than all other clients. CHAID models can be easily applied by service providers to provide ongoing evidence on clients exhibiting poor outcomes and requiring priority within services.