 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Wendee Wechsberg, PhD, Wendy K.K. Lam, PhD, William A. Zule, DrPH, Winnie Luseno, MS, Grace Hall, MPH, MPP, and Rachel Middlesteadt Ellerson, BS. Substance Abuse Treatment Evaluations and Interventions, Research Triangle Institute, PO Box 12194, 3040 Cornwallis Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2194, 919-541-6422, wmw@rti.org
African-American crack abusers in need of health and social services and treatment assistance are a vulnerable population often found on the street. Individuals in this population who are seeking treatment face significant environmental barriers and personal challenges. This paper presents findings from a study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse for a pretreatment intervention designed to promote treatment readiness and reduce treatment barriers for out-of-treatment African-American crack abusers. Through street outreach, the study enrolled 443 participants who were randomized into the pretreatment intervention or a control group, with 3-month follow-up rates of 90%. The sample was 27% female with a mean age of 40 years. Baseline data indicate that 38% of participants were homeless, 50% had not completed high school, 51% needed help with medical care, 79% were uninsured, 70% needed transportation, and 60% needed help with job placement. At 3-month follow-up, both intervention groups reported significant (p < 0.001) reductions in alcohol and crack use. Relative to controls, significantly more intervention participants made a treatment appointment by their 3-month follow-up interview (27% vs 15%, p<0.01). However, only 9% of experimental and 7% of control group participants actually entered treatment. In-depth interviews suggest that although the pretreatment intervention addressed some barriers to treatment such as lack of motivation, additional obstacles including lack of transportation and treatment fees remained. Findings suggest that interventions for out-of-treatment substance abusers need to focus on overcoming structural barriers in addition to motivational factors.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: African American, Drug Abuse Treatment
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.