Motivational enhancement therapy for African American substance users: a randomized clinical trial

Abstract

Limited empirical evidence concerning the efficacy of substance abuse treatments among African Americans reduces opportunities to evaluate and improve program efficacy. The current study, conducted as a secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial conducted by the Clinical Trials Network of the National Institute of Drug Abuse, addressed this knowledge gap by examining the efficacy of motivational enhancement therapy (MET) compared with counseling as usual (CAU) among 194 African American adults seeking outpatient substance abuse treatment at 5 participating sites. The findings revealed higher retention rates among women in MET than in CAU during the initial 12 weeks of the 16-week study. Men in MET and CAU did not differ in retention. However, MET participants self-reported more drug-using days per week than participants in CAU. Implications for future substance abuse treatment research with African Americans are discussed.

Figure 1

CONSORT diagram of eligibility, enrollment, randomization, treatment, and follow-up rates. CAU = counseling as usual; MET = motivational enhancement therapy. Note. The highest number of participants providing data at any time point was recorded as the total n for each time point.

Figure 2

Average days of primary substance use per week by therapy condition across baseline (Week 0), the active phase (Weeks 1–4), and follow-up phases (Weeks 5–16). MET = motivational enhancement therapy; CAU = counseling as usual. Lines reflect the fitted model. Symbols display observed average weekly primary substance use (in days). Number (N) of participants with available data is listed under the plot separately for each condition.

Figure 3

Therapy condition by gender for the proportion of participants enrolled in the active phase (1–4 weeks) and follow-up phases (5 –16 weeks). MET = motivational enhancement therapy; CAU = counseling as usual; CTP = community-based treatment program.