Brief coping skills treatment for cocaine abuse: substance use outcomes at three months

Abstract

Aims: Coping skills training, a promising treatment approach for alcoholics, was adapted for use with cocaine abusers and effects on outcome were investigated.

Design: A cocaine-specific coping skills training (CST) package was compared to an attention placebo control when both were added to a comprehensive treatment program.

Setting: The sites were two private substance abuse treatment facilities, one residential and rural, and one an urban partial hospital.

Participants: Substance abusers in treatment with cocaine abuse or dependence were selected.

Intervention: The CST intervention was conducted in individual sessions. It involved functional analysis of high risk situations and coping skills training based on the functional analysis.

Findings: Clients who received CST had significantly fewer cocaine use days and the length of their longest binge was significantly shorter during the 3-month follow-up period compared to clients in the control condition. CST did not affect relapse rates or use of other substances.

Conclusions: Results support the notion that cocaine-specific CST is a promising adjunct to treatment for cocaine abusers.