Predictors of consent and engagement to participate in telephone delivered continuing care following specialist residential alcohol and other drug treatment

Peter J Kelly; Isabella Ingram; Frank P Deane; Amanda L Baker; James R McKay; Laura D Robinson; Gerard Byrne; Tayla J Degan; Briony Osborne; Camilla J Townsend; Jason L Nunes; Joanne Lunn

doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2021.106840

Predictors of consent and engagement to participate in telephone delivered continuing care following specialist residential alcohol and other drug treatment

Addict Behav. 2021 Jun:117:106840. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2021.106840. Epub 2021 Jan 26.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ University of Wollongong, Northfields Avenue, School of Psychology, Wollongong, New South Wales 2500, Australia; Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, Wollongong, New South Wales 2500, Australia. Electronic address: pkelly@uow.edu.au.
² University of Wollongong, Northfields Avenue, School of Psychology, Wollongong, New South Wales 2500, Australia; Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, Wollongong, New South Wales 2500, Australia.
³ University of Newcastle, University Drive, School of Medicine and Public Health, Callaghan, New South Wales 2308, Australia.
⁴ University of Pennsylvania, Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, United States.
⁵ We Help Ourselves, Rozelle, New South Wales 2039, Australia.

PMID: 33556669
DOI: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2021.106840

Abstract

Introduction and aims: Although continuing care programs have been shown to improve alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment outcomes, uptake of continuing care has been low. The current study aimed to determine predictors of participants' who both re-confirmed consent to engage in telephone-based continuing care and commenced continuing care once they left residential AOD treatment. These participants had initially consented to partake in continuing care during the course of their residential stay.

Methods: Participants were 391 individuals (232 males, 59% and 158 females, 40%) accessing therapeutic communities for AOD treatment provided by The Australian Salvation Army and We Help Ourselves (WHOS). Measures at baseline, collected during residential treatment, included demographics, primary substance of concern, abstinence goal, refusal self-efficacy, cravings for substances, mental health diagnoses, psychological distress, quality of life and feelings of loneliness. All measures were used as predictor variables to determine characteristics of participants who re-confirmed consent to engage in continuing care and commenced continuing care following residential AOD treatment.

Results: Completing residential treatment, being unmarried, and higher levels of loneliness predicted re-confirmation of consent to participate in continuing care following discharge from residential treatment. Participants who were Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander were less likely to provide re-confirmation of consent. Participants were more likely to commence continuing care if they completed residential treatment, were older, and had longer years of substance use.

Conclusions: Tailoring continuing care programs to reach a broader array of individuals such as Indigenous populations and persons who exit treatment services early is needed to ensure these programs can reach all individuals who might need them.

Keywords: Addiction; Aftercare; Continuing care; Recovery; Substance dependence; Treatment.

MeSH terms

Australia
Female
Humans
Informed Consent
Male
Pharmaceutical Preparations*
Quality of Life
Residential Treatment*
Telephone

Substances

Pharmaceutical Preparations

Grants and funding

K24 DA029062/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/United States