Enhanced outpatient treatment for co-occurring disorders: main outcomes

Abstract

This study, which was conducted in an outpatient substance abuse treatment program, randomly assigned clients with mental health symptoms to either a control group, which received basic program services, or an experimental group, which was configured as a modified therapeutic community (TC) track, with the addition of modified TC features and three specific elements-psychoeducational seminar, trauma-informed addictions treatment, and case management. The experimental group had significantly better outcomes as compared with the control group on measures of psychiatric severity and on the key measure of housing stability; no difference was observed for substance use, crime, and employment. The findings must be qualified because (a) only 3 of 34 representative measures (<10%) showed significant differential treatment effects and (b) analysis revealed partial implementation of the enhancements. The study provides modest support for the effectiveness, on specific outcomes, of outpatient substance abuse treatment programs that add modified TC features and targeted interventions to strengthen their capacity to treat co-occurring disorders.