Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #117611

Maria Angeles Bilbao¹, Rodrigo Bilbao Ramirez², Rodrigo Portilla², Tamina Orellana², and Kenneth Steinman, PhD³. (1) School of Psychology - School of Public Health, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile - The Ohio State University, Escuela de Psicologia, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860 - Macul, Santiago, Chile, 56- 2- 354 4816, mbilbaor@uc.cl, (2) Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, School of Psychology, Av. Recoleta 5690, Huechuraba, Santiago, Chile, (3) School of Public Health/Division of Health Behavior and Health Promotion, Ohio State University, 320 West 10th Avenue, B-215 Starling-Loving Hall, Columbus, OH 43210-1240

The family mental health community center (COSAM) of Quilicura –Santiago de Chile-, has developed a program for people who presents problematic alcohol and drug consumption. Quilicura is a young community with an increasing problem of drug consumption, being this program an answer to this situation. It started on 2001 and was reformulated in January 2005. The Municipality, in association with the Department of Public Health and CONACE sponsors this program. This ATOD program offers an ambulatory treatment to the person and her/his family, divided in three stages: Welcome (detoxification), Treatment (individual and group psychotherapy, and family therapy), and Follow-up (one interview per three months). This is the first process evaluation of the program, based in C. Weiss program evaluation model. Interviews, questionnaires and written information of the program helped gathering the data, which is being analyzed both through qualitative and quantitative techniques. At the end of this evaluation, we expect to have a better understanding of the program dynamic within the participants and the community. The results will tell us about participants' view of the program; their principal characteristics associated with the permanence or withdraw from the program; indicators of effectiveness of the ambulatory treatment, and program elements that can be change to improve its cost-effectiveness. Limitations of the evaluation and further practice implications will be discussed.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Evaluate key elements for the effectiveness of this type of ATOD programs in underserved communities.
• Recognize and understand one of the Chilean public health ATOD programs for underserved communities.
• Identify program elements that can be change to improve its cost-effectiveness.

Keywords: Substance Abuse Treatment, Developing Countries

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered