A rationale for reasonable expectations of addiction treatments is offered, from which are derived three outcome criteria for judging the effectiveness of treatments: reduction in substance use; improvement in personal health and social function; and reduction in public health and safety risks.
Full Answer
How do we evaluate the effectiveness of drug treatments?
A substantial followup literature indicates that drug treatments are effective when evaluated in terms of their principal aims. Program- based followup studies, for example, have firmly established the effectiveness of the TC approach in terms of its principal aim of modifying both social and psychological adjustment.
How do we evaluate program effectiveness?
Changes in criminal behavior, employment and other socially productive activity, and the use of illicit drugs have repeatedly been used to evaluate program effectiveness as has program retention.
What is a treatment effectiveness assessment?
Treatment effectiveness assessment (TEA) The TEA asks the patient to express the extent of changes for the better from his/her involvement in the program to the current point (or how things are at baseline, for the first TEA) in four areas: substance use, health, lifestyle, and community.
What is an effective treatment program?
An effective treatment program not only addresses the issue of addiction, but can and should also help people in all areas of their life. What makes up an effective treatment program? The various types of programs available.
How do you assess treatment effectiveness?
The randomized controlled trial (RCT) is the most reliable methodology for assessing the efficacy of treatments in medicine. In such a trial a defined group of study patients is assigned to either receive the treatment or not, or to receive different doses of the treatment, through a formal process of randomization.
What are the 12 principles for effective drug treatment?
An effective treatment program will address all a person's needs, not just his/her addiction....Effective Treatment Programs Yield Beyond Successful ResultsStop drug and alcohol use and consumption.Remain completely free of drugs and alcohol.Thrive productively at work, in society, and with his/her family.
What does the effectiveness of treatment depend on?
The effectiveness of the treatment will depend on the access he has to, for instance, the drug. He needs to be to able to obtain it (the drug) or other type of treatment (usually requiring cash), also the patient needs to comply with the treatment.
What is the success rate of drug therapy?
An estimated 43 percent of all people who go to drug rehab successfully complete their treatment programs, while another 16 percent are transferred to other rehab centers for additional treatment. Rehab success rates for those who complete drug and alcohol detoxification are a combined 68 percent.
What are the core components of effective integrated treatment?
In this article we define integrated treatment for clients with co-occurring disorders, and identify the core components of effective integrated programs, including: assertive outreach, comprehensiveness, shared decision-making, harm-reduction, long-term commitment, and stage-wise (motivation-based) treatment.
What are two principles of treatment?
The principles of treatment are to reduce the effect and kill the cause of the diseases. 2. Why can't antibiotics treat any viral infection?
What's the difference between efficacy and effectiveness?
Efficacy is the degree to which a vaccine prevents disease, and possibly also transmission, under ideal and controlled circumstances – comparing a vaccinated group with a placebo group. Effectiveness meanwhile refers to how well it performs in the real world.
What is the most effective treatment for addiction?
According to American Addiction Centers, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a valuable treatment tool because it can be used for many different types of addiction including, but not limited to, food addiction, alcohol addiction, and prescription drug addiction.
What is the most effective intervention for substance abuse?
CBT is often rated as the most effective approach to treatment with a drug and alcohol population.
Are drugs effective in treating disorders?
Drugs cannot cure mental illnesses. Rather, they work to control many of the most troubling symptoms, often enabling people with mental disorders to return to normal or near-normal functioning.
What are the strategies to address the drug problem discuss the five pillars of action?
Drug Supply Reduction. The objective is to take away the drugs from the public, for the purpose of abuse, through market denial operations and prevention of diversion from the licit to the illicit markets. ... Drug Demand Reduction. ... Civic Awareness and Response. ... Alternative Development. ... Regional and International Cooperation.
How does a person look like under the influence of drugs?
Some signs that someone may be under the influence of a drug include: Enlarged pupils, bloodshot or glassy eyes. Increased energy and confidence. Loss of inhibitions.
What are the requirements for evaluation?
Some programs have specific requirements laid out by funders for evaluation, some don’t have any outside influence telling them to evaluate. For programs that are ongoing, such as treatment facilities, yearly evaluations are pretty typical and they usually look at a variety of things: 1 Outcomes 2 Fiscal efficiency 3 Impact 4 Process
Why is mental health important?
Mental health is key to healthy living. The primary goal of addiction treatment is to improve an addict’s health and quality of life. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) health is defined as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease.
Do organizations have the money to spend on complex evaluation processes?
In addition, organizations don’t have the money to spend on complicated evaluation processes that require sophisticated software and hours of data collection. I work with each client to come up with an evaluation methods that works best for their budget, their skill-level, their existing technology, and their time.
Can you cripple an organization with cumbersome evaluation practices?
However, you can’t cripple an organization with cumbersome evaluation practices. For time-limited programs, such as a 6-week prevention program in a high school, for example, an evaluation schedule is going to look very different. It also depends on the program goals and objectives.
How to evaluate a drug free program?
The evaluation cycle follows these steps: 1 Reiterate the goals of the drug-free workplace policy and program. Learn more about how to develop a policy. 2 Design strategies for accomplishing the program objectives with the resources you have available, as identified when you assessed workplace needs. 3 Determine the key activities that will be a part of your program and what outcomes you hope to achieve as you plan and implement a program. Select assessment methods that can measure your organization's progress toward achieving your objectives and goals. Evaluate the outcomes and the processes that contribute to those outcomes. 4 Gather, analyze, and interpret assessment data. 5 Continually improve processes and outcomes, using the results of the assessment.
How does evaluation help in drug free workplace?
Evaluation can help you improve your drug-free workplace program and understand how it has affected your workplace. Evaluation can tell you if what you are doing is working and whether it is cost-effective.
How to measure progress in an organization?
Select assessment methods that can measure your organization's progress toward achieving your objectives and goals. Evaluate the outcomes and the processes that contribute to those outcomes. Gather, analyze, and interpret assessment data. Continually improve processes and outcomes , using the results of the assessment.
How does WMC measure results?
The WMC project measured results by looking at changes in substance-use-related medical claims. This helped in assessing whether the worksite prevention and health-promotion programs had any effect in encouraging employees to seek and get help in the short term and in decreasing substance-use-related medical claims in the long term. Results evaluations can be costly, but they also are the most effective for determining the actual benefits of a program.
What is a behavior evaluation?
Behavior evaluation focuses on whether employees have used what they have learned to change various behaviors. For example, in the Workplace Managed Care (WMC) project, researchers used the Health Behavior Questionnaire (HBQ) to assess self-reported changes in supervisors' and employees' behaviors. The HBQ emphasizes substance use, health, and related factors such as stress-relief strategies, alcohol consumption, and use of employee assistance program (EAP) services.
What is the purpose of evaluating reactions?
You can do this by asking employees to complete a short evaluation form at the end of the program.
What is drug free training?
In a basic drug-free workplace training program, you might want to see whether participants learned the details of the policy and the consequences of not adhering to the policy. In a drug-free workplace program embedded within a health initiative, you will likely have additional learning goals.
How to evaluate a programme?
The first step in designing a programme evaluation is to engage the stakeholders. Stake holders are those involved in the programme such as programme designers, funders, and patients or clients, etc. Also, people interested in the programme (family members) or the evaluation design (managers, etc.) may be stakeholders. Stakeholders should be involved in the evaluation process from the start so there is representation of their needs and interests throughout the programme evaluation and implementation. It is helpful to involve stakeholders who increase the credibility of your efforts or your evaluation (such as researchers, politicians, leaders, etc.). It is also important to involve those who are responsible for day-to-day implementation of the activities and services provided in the programme and those that may provide some advocacy or make possible the necessary changes to the programme, including those who can provide sustainability or authorise funds for the continuation of the programme. Do not forget to include the clients or those affected by the programme activities. They can give you a realistic perspective and lots of ideas for programme improvement.
What is outcome evaluation?
Outcome evaluations measure how clients and their circumstances change following participation in treatment and/or rehabilitation, and whether the treatment experience has been a factor in causing this change (World Health Organization, Workbook 7, 2000).
What is addiction severity index?
The Addiction Severity Index (ASI) is a semi-structured interview designed to collect important information about aspects of a client’s life that might have contributed to their psychoactive substance use. The interview takes about an hour and covers seven potential problem areas or domains, namely:
What is a detailed description of a programme?
detailed description of the programme will be helpful to all stakeholders and those directly or indirectly affected by the programme, particularly the funding sources and those professionals in charge of the programme implementation.
What is outcome measure?
Outcome measures (or indicators) are measurable pieces of information that indicate whether a programme is achieving its objectives. Our example of a sustainable livelihoods programme is aimed at assisting clients to develop the support they need to sustain recovery in the community. Evaluation, in this case, therefore entails a measure of the extent to which the programme has contributed towards supporting recovery in the community. Outcome measures should be chosen to reflect how well clients have been able to sustain their recovery after treatment.
What are qualitative and quantitative measures?
Qualitative measures are extremely helpful to initially explore the situation of the program, provide a context for quantitative data, and get staff involved in the evaluation process. Qualitative measures include examination of routine records; observations of participants, situations, events, etc.; and interviews and focus groups (structured, semi-structured, or unstructured). Quantitative data can be collected using questionnaires, scales, tests, etc. Some of these measures are explained below.
What is observation in qualitative research?
Observation is one of the essential methods of qualitative research. It consists of looking in a focused way. Observations may be used to study people in different settings (natural environment, therapy, behaviour with family members, etc.). You may also use self-observation methods with program clients. For instance, a functional analysis (see Volume B, Module 3) involves a client recording his or her own problematic behaviour and the situation surrounding that behaviour. Observations usually include the following: (1) becoming immersed in the field (natural environment, therapeutic environment, etc.) for an extended period of time, (2) participating in various ways and degrees (from observing only to intervening in different degrees), (3) observing with a focus (e.g., a particular behaviour), (4) taking notes about what is being observed, (5) conducting informal and, sometimes, formal interviews, (6) analyzing notes, and (7) writing up an analysis, often in the form of a story or extended narrative. (Estenberg, K.G. [2002]. Qualitative Methods in Social Research. McGraw Hill.)
Overview of the Logic Model
NIJ has developed a logic model for adult drug court programs that court administrators and their partners who want to examine the performance of their drug courts may find useful. The logic model can help clarify the best way to use resources and what long- and short-term outcomes drug court teams should consider measuring.
Performance Measures
The logic model components can be tied to program goals (e.g., promote public safety by treating drug-dependent offenders); program objectives (e.g., reduce recidivism by implementing risk/needs assessments, graduated sanctions and incentives and other drug court services); and performance measures, such as the following:
Cost-Efficiency Analysis
Cost-efficiency analysis indicates what impact the program has on public resources and expenditures and whether the investment yields savings over the status quo or an alternative.
Terms Used Frequently in Cost-Efficiency Analysis
Standing. A primary concern for evaluation is the population the program is designed to target. In cost-efficiency analysis, this is referred to as the standing — whose costs and benefits are being assessed?
When did the methadone program close?
One sample was from the only methadone program in Bakersfield, California, which closed in September 1976.
What is the NIDA research monograph?
NIDA Research Monographs are prepared by the research divisions of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and published by its Office of Science. The primary objective of the series is to provide critical reviews of research problem areas and techniques, the content of state-of-the-art conferences, and integrative research reviews.
What is DARP in mental health?
The Drug Abuse Reporting Program (DARP), established under the auspices of the National Institute of Mental Health and subsequently supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, began as a management monitoring system which was designed also to be of value for treatment research.
When did the syringe program start?
This program began in September, 1969, and initially employed stabilization doses of 80-120 mg. However, in October 1971, the maximum dose for incoming patients was set at 50 mg. Thus, a low-dose policy prevailed during most of the period in which patients were selected for this study.
