Legal Pressure Increases Treatment Retention

People who participated in substance abuse treatment on the recommendation or requirement of an attorney or criminal justice professional were more likely to stay in treatment than were people who voluntarily chose to participate in treatment. Legal pressure had the largest effect on treatment retention rates among persons in short-term residential programs, where participants sometimes stayed much longer than the typical 2-month period.

Source

Analyses of data collected during the National Treatment Improvement Evaluation Study, which involved publicly funded, nonmethadone treatment programs including long-term residential (n = 757), short-term residential (n = 756), and outpatient treatment (n = 1,181) reported in: Perron, B.E. and Bright, C.L. The influence of legal coercion on dropout from substance abuse treatment: Results from a national survey. Drug and Alcohol Dependence 92(1-3):123-131, 2008. [Abstract]