Characteristics of Treatment Program Dropouts

When treating a substance abuse disorder, a treatment program is often essential to the individual’s success. The length of time that they spend in the program can be an indication of how well they will overcome their addiction. This study looked at 122 people in an outpatient treatment facility and determined some characteristics of the individuals who dropped out of the program. The study looked at some important key factors of success such as family support, coping mechanisms, and anxiety levels. Of the 122 patients, 38 were considered to be dropouts of the program in which they participated. Some of the biggest characteristics that the researchers saw with the dropouts were the state of employment, the substance that they were abusing, as well as family problems. Interestingly, patients who abused alcohol were more likely to dropout than cocaine abusers. They also measured personality disorders in the dropouts, which also gave higher scores than the patients who completed the treatment program.

Some implications for this study could be that counselors and clinicians can focus on some of the biggest reasons why patients do not complete their treatment program. If they could help the patients secure a job or find support outside of the treatment facility if the family is not supportive, then maybe completion of the program will have higher success rates. These findings may also call into question some of the strategies used by other treatment facilities to ensure that the patients are completing the program. The completion rates for these kinds of programs are not very high, so maybe taking a different approach with these results would be beneficial.

A few limitations of the study were that it was conducted in Spain as well as a small sample size. While the sample did vary in gender and age differences, the culture and context was different than in the US. The reasons for their dropouts may be different here. Another study would probably need to occur in order to determine specific reasons for US dropout rates.

López-Goñi, J. J., Fernández-Montalvo, J. and Arteaga, A. (2012), Addiction Treatment Dropout: Exploring Patients’ Characteristics. The American Journal on Addictions, 21: 78–85. doi: 10.1111/j.1521-0391.2011.00188.x

Abstract