Barriers to Drug Treatment for African-American Crack Abusers
Author Information
Author(s): Wendee M Wechsberg, William A Zule, Kara S Riehman, Winnie K Luseno, Wendy K Lam
Primary Institution: RTI International
Hypothesis
The Pretreatment participants would be more likely to initiate treatment and enter treatment.
Conclusion
The intervention helped motivate change but structural barriers to treatment remained keeping actual admissions low.
Supporting Evidence
- The intervention group had a higher percentage of participants initiating treatment compared to the control group.
- Both groups reported significant decreases in crack use over time.
- Structural barriers such as cost and transportation were significant obstacles to treatment entry.
Takeaway
This study looked at how to help African-American crack users get into treatment. It found that while the program helped some people want to change, many still faced big obstacles to actually getting treatment.
Methodology
Participants were recruited through street outreach and randomly assigned to either a pretreatment intervention or control group, with follow-ups at 3 and 6 months.
Potential Biases
Potential social desirability bias in self-reports.
Limitations
Self-reported data may be inaccurate, and the sample may not be representative of all crack abusers.
Participant Demographics
Participants were 443 African-American crack abusers, with a mean age of 39.9 years, 73.1% male, and 38.1% currently homeless.
Statistical Information
P-Value
0.014
Confidence Interval
(1.04–2.34)
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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