Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Observational Study
. 2024 Sep:164:209430.
doi: 10.1016/j.josat.2024.209430. Epub 2024 Jun 8.

Observations of substance use treatment engagement during the period of community re-entry following residential treatment

Noam G Newberger  1 , Diana Ho  1 , Emmanuel D Thomas  1 , Silvi C Goldstein  2 , Stephen M Coutu  1 , Alyssa L Avila  1 , Lynda A R Stein  3 , Nicole H Weiss  4
Affiliations
Observational Study

Observations of substance use treatment engagement during the period of community re-entry following residential treatment

Noam G Newberger et al. J Subst Use Addict Treat. 2024 Sep.

Abstract

Background: The period of community re-entry following residential substance use treatment is associated with elevated risk for return to substance use. Although continuity of care is best practice, many individuals do not engage in follow-up treatment, struggle to engage in follow-up treatment, or continue to use substances while participating in follow-up treatment. There is a need to both characterize treatment engagement during community re-entry following residential substance use treatment as well as understand how treatment impacts substance use during this high-risk period.

Method: This observational study used retrospective self-report to examine treatment engagement and substance use among individuals who had exited residential substance use treatment. Participants completed a Timeline Follow-back interview reporting substance use and treatment engagement in the 30 days following residential treatment.

Results: Most participants (83.1 %) reported engaging in substance use treatment following discharge. The most common treatments were Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous (61.1 %), medication for addiction treatment (40 %), and outpatient therapy (29.2 %). Participants were less likely to use substances on a day in which they engaged in outpatient therapy (OR = 0.32, 95 % CI [0.12, 0.90], p = 0.030) and more likely on days they engaged in medication treatment (OR = 21.49, 95 % CI [1.46, 316.74], p = 0.025).

Conclusion: Findings characterize engagement in substance use treatment in the month following residential treatment. Treatment engagement was common during community re-entry; however, only outpatient therapy was found to reduce substance use during this high-risk period. Findings may inform intervention efforts during the high-risk period of community re-entry.

Keywords: Community re-entry; Continuity of care; Substance use; Treatment.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. This research was supported by a grant from the Rhode Island Foundation awarded to Nicole H. Weiss. Work on this paper by Nicole H. Weiss was also supported by a grant from the Center for Biomedical Research and Excellence (COBRE) on Opioids and Overdose funded by the National Institute on General Medical Sciences (P20GM125507). Work on this paper by Emmanuel D. Thomas was supported by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Grant F31AA030502 and by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Grant R25AA028464. Work on this paper by Silvi C. Goldstein was supported by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Grant F31AA029274. Work on this paper by Lyn Stein was supported by U01DA05044.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). 10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596 - DOI
    1. Andersson HW, Wenaas M, & Nordfjærn T. (2019). Relapse after inpatient substance use treatment: A prospective cohort study among users of illicit substances. Addictive Behaviors, 90, 222–228. 10.1016/j.addbeh.2018.11.008 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Arnold TD, Lin L(A), Cotton BP, Bryson WC, & Polenick CA (2021). Gender differences in patterns and correlates of concurrent substance use among patients in methadone maintenance treatment. Substance Use & Misuse, 56(4), 529–538. 10.1080/10826084.2021.1887242 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ashford RD, Bergman BG, Kelly JF, & Curtis B. (2020). Systematic review: Digital recovery support services used to support substance use disorder recovery. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, 2(1), 18–32. 10.1002/hbe2.148 - DOI
    1. Bates D, Mächler M, Bolker B, & Walker S. (2014). Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models using lme4 (arXiv:1406.5823). arXiv. http://arxiv.org/abs/1406.5823.

Publication types