Treatment structure and program services in the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study (DATOS).

Program and client data from the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study (DATOS) were used to examine program structural and treatment characteristics in 1991–1993. Similar data from the Treatment Outcome Prospective Study were used to compare the characteristics of DATOS programs with those in 1979–1981. Drug abuse treatment typically consisted of supportive therapy delivered primarily in groups, emphasizing abstinence from all illicit substances, including alcohol, buttressed by relapse prevention and urine monitoring during treatment. Secondary treatment emphases reflected each modality's unique orientations. Over the 2 eras, comprehensive services declined while many core elements of treatment strengthened, including client awareness of treatment plans and posttreatment involvement in 12-step groups. Some programs began to experience structural changes resulting from cost containment and managed care. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Treatment retention and follow-up outcomes in the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study (DATOS).

Clients in the national Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study reported significant overall improvements in drug use and related measures during a 12-month follow-up period. A quasi-experimental design was used to examine the relationship of treatment duration with outcomes in each of the 3 major modalities represented. Client subsamples with longer retention in long-term residential programs and in outpatient methadone treatment had significantly better outcomes than those with shorter lengths of stay (results were inconclusive for outpatient drug-free programs because of sample limitations). This study used several methodological enhancements and showed general continuity of findings on retention effects from previous national evaluations of treatment effectiveness. It supports the need for more careful study of treatment process in relation to outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Methodological overview and Research Design for the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study (DATOS).

The Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study (DATOS) is the 3rd in a series of national multisite studies of community-based treatment sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The major goal of this prospective cohort study of adult clients entering treatment from 1991 to 1993 is to evaluate treatment effectiveness. The study included 10,010 admissions from 96 programs in 11 cities. Interviews were conducted at admission and during treatment, and 2,966 selected participants completed a 12-month follow-up interview. This article describes the methodological aspects of the study and provides an overview of program and client samples. Data collection procedures and instrumentation are described, and the analytical approach used to attain the research objectives is presented. Future plans for a longer term follow-up are also described, along with the potential contributions of DATOS findings to treatment policy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Drug addiction and treatment careers among clients in the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study (DATOS).

Considerable heterogeneity in patterns of addiction and treatment career histories was observed among the 10,010 clients participating in the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study (DATOS). For half of the clients, DATOS was their first treatment episode; for the other half, their mean number of prior treatment episodes was 3.5. Type of treatment and cumulative length of treatment exposure reflected the interaction of clients' drug use patterns and the historical availability of different treatment approaches. Regression analyses showed that a higher level of prior treatment use was associated with more severe addiction career characteristics, injection drug use, and criminal activities. Effective and cost-effective approaches to treatment need to include more strategic interventions that consider clients' diverse treatment histories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Program diversity and treatment retention rates in the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study (DATOS).

Stays of 3 months or longer in drug abuse treatment generally predict better follow-up outcomes. In a national sample of community-based programs that participated in the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study, median lengths of stay were 3 months for clients in long-term residential and outpatient drug-free treatments and 1 year for clients in outpatient methadone treatment. However, individual programs within each of these modalities differed widely in how long they kept their clients in treatment as well as their service delivery. Programs treating individuals with heavier cocaine and alcohol use and more psychological dysfunction usually had shorter retention rates. Nonetheless, even after statistically controlling for these client differences, some programs were more effective than others in engaging and retaining clients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Overview of 1-year follow-up outcomes in the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study (DATOS).

The Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study (DATOS) collected 1-year follow-up outcomes for 2,966 clients in outpatient methadone (OMT), long-term residential (LTR), outpatient drug-free (ODF), and short-term inpatient (STI) programs in 1991–1993. LTR, STI, and ODF clients reported 50% less weekly or daily cocaine use in the follow-up year than in the preadmission year. Reductions were greater (p?     

Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study (DATOS): Treatment Evaluation Research in the United States.

Much of what is known about typical drug abuse treatment outcomes comes from a series of large-scale national prospective longitudinal treatment evaluation studies supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse over the past 3 decades. An overview of the historical context, research design, and findings from the Drug Abuse Reporting Program (DARP) and the Treatment Outcome Prospective Study (TOPS) is presented. The Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study (DATOS), a multisite cooperative agreement, is the latest and most advanced in this research designed to understand drug abuse treatment. DATOS investigators are conducting analyses in 4 thematic areas: health services research, retention and engagement in treatment, the life course of treated addicts, and policy-relevant treatment outcome studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology: National Institute on Drug Abuse's clinical research agenda.

Studies of drugs and behavior are a core component of virtually every portfolio within the broad purview of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Moreover, psychopharmacological research is an important vehicle for advancing understanding of how drugs of abuse produce their effects, particularly including addiction. However, as with all major public health issues, simply understanding the issue is not enough. NIDA's psychopharmacology projects, therefore, span basic, clinical, and applied (e.g., medication development) research activities. These include the establishment of a nationwide clinical trials network designed to provide an infrastructure to test both behavioral and psychopharmacological treatments in a real-life practice setting with diverse patients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Therapeutic alliance as a predictor of outcome and retention in the National Institute on Drug Abuse Collaborative Cocaine Treatment Study.

The authors examined the relation between therapeutic alliance, retention, and outcome for 308 cocaine-dependent outpatients participating in the National Institute on Drug Abuse Collaborative Cocaine Treatment Study. High levels of alliance were observed in supportive–expressive therapy (SE), cognitive therapy (CT), and individual drug counseling (IDC), and alliance levels increased slightly but significantly from Session 2 to Session 5 in all groups. In contrast to other studies, alliance was not a significant predictor of drug outcome. However, alliance did predict patient retention differentially across the 3 treatments. In SE and IDC, either higher levels of alliance were associated with increased retention or no relationship between alliance and retention was found, depending on the time alliance was measured. In CT, higher levels of alliance were associated with decreased retention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to the special issue on skill.

The special issue on Skill is intended to capture some of the excitement generated by the renewed interest in understanding skilled performance. It is not intended to jump uncritically on the bandwagon of ecological validity, although there is considerable merit in examining complex tasks that bear a strong resemblance to those that people engage in outside the laboratory. The contributors to this issue have all seen fit to explore various aspects of skilled performance. Despite their adoption of very different theoretical approaches, the contributors all address the common theme of skill. Questions of skill are intrinsically questions of individual differences. How can we best explain why some people are highly skilled at a particular activity, whereas others are not? How do people acquire skill? Lurking not far below the surface are questions of nature versus nurture. Thus, it is interesting to read Ericsson's argument that mnemonists are not unusual people, in the sense that the principles of memory that apply to nonskilled individuals hold too for the performance of such experts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to the special issue on video games.

Video games are fast becoming one of the most popular media of choice among children and young adults. They are one of the newest media forms to find themselves under scientific scrutiny. To date, much of the attention has been negative, focusing on potential harm related to addiction, aggression, and lowered school performance. Scientists increasingly are examining the potential to use this immensely popular media for positive purposes, in education, in health, for students with disabilities, and to foster visuospatial cognition. This special issue concerns itself mainly with these issues: refocusing the discussion of video games away from fears that may have been exaggerated in the past, to examining whether video games may be put to some good use or are just games in the end. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to the special issue on long-term care.

There are over 1.3 million American residents in long-term care (LTC) facilities of one type or another. We have a considerably greater number of patients in LTC facilities than in general hospitals. Because of the projections that in the next several decades millions more will become residents of LTC institutions, it is remarkable that so little attention has been directed to the psychological issues that involve elderly residents in these settings. In recognition of the variety of recent changes in the relationship between acute care settings and LTC institutions, because of an emerging body of research being developed about the nursing home, and in view of the large number and projected growth of the LTC institutional population, our focus in this special issue is largely upon the institutional setting. Individual articles in this issue focus upon aspects of a range of subjects. These include broad issues of health policy in the United States as they relate to LTC; the future of nursing homes; staff-patient relationships in LTC institutions; and the clinical and social-psychological issues that must be addressed by rehabilitation psychology in LTC settings. The hope is that this issue of Rehabilitation Psychology will stimulate greater interest among psychologists and allied professionals in the field of LTC and in addressing the needs of the millions of persons who could profit from help. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to the special issue on program evaluation.

It is argued that psychologists, through activities related to program evaluation, can make contributions to at least four pressing issues: participation in and formulation of public policy regarding rehabilitation; clarification of the nature and scope of rehabilitation itself; practice of theory-driven evaluation; and the cumulation of knowledge through meta-analytic methods. Papers in the Special Issue are briefly introduced and described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to the special issue on animal memory.

The papers in this Special Issue represent a sample of the types of issues and questions being addressed in the area of animal memory. Two general categories of empirical studies and theoretical treatments are typically classified under the animal memory heading. The first category, rather obviously, is comprised of contributions concerned with the theoretical and empirical analysis of animal memory per se. Contributions of this type typically concern the specification of the mechanisms and processes responsible for retention and forgetting. The second category comprising the area of animal memory are contributions in which processes of memory are invoked in the analysis of some phenomenon which is at least potentially analyzable without such constructs. The twelve papers collected here can be divided approximately equally between these two categories. Falling into the first category are studies of spatial memory (Wilkie), memory for visual stimuli (Grant; Roberts & Kraemer; Santi), memory for auditory stimuli (D'Amato & Salmon), the role of expectancies as mediators of short-term retention (Honig, Matheson, & Dodd), and the nature of memory expression (Spear). The remaining papers consider the role of processes of memory in other phenomena: foraging behaviour (Sherry), sequence learning (Weisman, Gibson, & Rochford), auditory discrimination learning (D'Amato & Salmon), performance on reinforcement schedules (Shimp), the learning of ill-defined categories (Medin & Dewey), and place navigation (Sutherland & Dyck). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding binge drinking: Introduction to the special issue.

Widespread interest in binge drinking, demonstrated by scientists, public policymakers, and educators, served as the impetus for assembling this special issue. The contents represent state-of-the-science conceptualizations and empirical work on the topic of binge drinking. This issue begins with 2 invited articles and contains a selection of empirical articles that reflect experimental and correlational designs, longitudinal studies of the course and correlates of binge drinking, and controlled-intervention trials. These articles address the construct validity of binge drinking as well as its utility as a high-risk marker in both theory-testing and intervention contexts. This introductory article discusses several advantages and disadvantages of continued use of the term binge drinking and suggests alternatives for use in research and applied contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to the special issue: Psychology and AIDS.

From its beginnings in 1981, psychologists have been involved in worldwide efforts to meet the many challenges of the AIDS health crisis. As researchers and practitioners, as consultants and policy advisors, as educators and evaluators, and as activists and concerned members of the community--we psychologists have responded in many ways. We have attempted a broad perspective in approaching this special issue. We wanted coverage of the science, the practice, and the social issues that AIDS has brought into focus for psychology. Any attempt to cover all the issues is doomed to failure, however. The science changes too quickly, and the disease is spreading too rapidly, for any group of journal articles to ever claim currency and comprehensiveness. The issue has been divided into six major sections, each with an introduction. We begin with articles that overview the roles of psychology in the AIDS health crisis as seen in our own profession, and from various levels of science, health care, and legislative and government action. Then we present articles reviewing some of the primary issues AIDS commands us to examine: public health, antibody testing, AIDS and the communities of Black and Hispanic men, IV drug abuse, sexual behavior change, stigma, and psychoneuroimmunology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to the special issue: Developmental perspectives on addictive behaviors.

A developmental perspective on drug abuse includes an understanding of the "natural history" of drug-using patterns and the context of such behavior in the lives of individuals. This context includes the developmental precursors of addictive behavior at an earlier stage of life, as well as an understanding of how certain stages of life, such as adolescence, may predispose such behavior. The articles in this special issue include studies of familial influences, behavioral and psychosocial correlates that are specific to a developmental period, and gender-related developmental sequelae. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to the special issue on Groups in Education.

This introduction develops the rationale for the special issue Groups in Education. The most serious deficits in the current or traditional educational system in the United States are cited. Radical changes in the system are called for, and two examples of such radically different systems are included in this issue to illustrate the types of changes that would be necessary to make significant improvement in student achievement and behavior. The other articles are representative of group interventions that have been applied successfully to treat the variety of problems that students have, some of which are produced by the system itself. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)