Recovery Housing and Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome

September 7, 2017 updated by: Johns Hopkins University
Reinforcement-Based Therapy (RBT) is an intensive outpatient substance abuse treatment that includes relapse prevention skills training, goal setting, help with finding employment and abstinence-contingent rent payment for recovery housing in the community. It is meant to provide motivation for continued abstinence while enhancing social stability. In this study, treatment was offered to inner city opiate and cocaine users immediately following a brief medically-supported residential detoxification. Previous research had shown that RBT produces 3- month outcomes superior to those for patients who are referred to outpatient treatment in the community. The present study compared outcomes for patients (N = 243) randomly assigned to receive abstinence-contingent recovery housing with (full RBT) or without additional intensive counseling or to receive usual care referral to outpatient treatment following detoxification. Outcomes were similar at 3- and 6-month follow-ups for those who received recovery housing with (full RBT) and without additional counseling and both these treatments were superior to usual care referral. Study findings support the efficacy of post-detoxification recovery housing with or without counseling for opiate and cocaine users.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

Aims To conduct a randomized, controlled trial of abstinence-contingent recovery housing delivered with or without intensive day treatment among individuals exiting residential opioid detoxification.

Design Random assignment to one of three conditions: recovery housing alone (RH), abstinence-contingent recovery housing with reinforcement-based treatment RBT (RH + RBT) or usual care (UC). RH and RH + RBT participants received 12 weeks of paid recovery housing contingent upon drug abstinence. RH + RBT participants also received 26 weeks of RBT, initiated concurrently with recovery housing. Assessments were conducted at 1, 3 and 6 months after treatment enrollment.

Setting Out-patient drug-free substance abuse treatment program in Baltimore, Maryland.

Participants Patients (n = 243) who completed medication-assisted opioid detoxification.

Measurements Primary outcome was drug abstinence (opioid- and cocaine-negative urine and no self-reported opioid or cocaine use in the previous 30 days). Secondary outcomes included abstinence at all time-points (1, 3 and 6 months), days in recovery housing and employment.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

243

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Maryland
      • Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 21224
        • Behavioral Pharmacology Research Unit

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 55 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • completes residential detoxification for use of opiates and/or cocaine
  • willing to go to outpatient aftercare
  • agrees to random assignment; signs informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

  • moving out of town
  • primary substance use does not include opiates or cocaine

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Recovery housing plus counseling
Intensive counseling in a 5-day per week program plus abstinence-contingent rent payment in a community recovery house. Intervention lasts 12 weeks with follow-up at 12 and 24 weeks post treatment entry.
Participants receive 3 months of abstinence-contingent program-supported rent payment in community recovery housing. They also receive intensive outpatient counseling (both individual and group) focused on relapse prevention skills training, goal setting, employment seeking and recreational activities.
Experimental: Recovery Housing only
Abstinence-contingent payment for recovery housing rent in absence of any formal counseling. Intervention lasts 12 weeks with follow-up at 12 and 24 weeks post treatment entry.
Participant may receive up to 3 months of abstinence-contingent rent payment in community recovery housing but is not invited to participate in intensive counseling.
Active Comparator: Usual Care Referral
Participants receive referral resources for community substance abuse counseling and recovery housing but no formal treatment or help with rent payments. All participate in follow-up data collection.
Participants are referred to an outpatient program of their choosing with an appointment made for them.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
abstinence from opiates and cocaine
Time Frame: 6 months post randomization
Free in the community plus self report of no drug use in past 30 days verified with negative urine screen.
6 months post randomization

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Maxine Stitzer, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

April 1, 2001

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2008

Study Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2008

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 28, 2014

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 7, 2017

First Posted (Actual)

September 11, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 11, 2017

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 7, 2017

Last Verified

September 1, 2017

More Information

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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