The objective of the proposed study is to assess the benefits of adding brief, individual psychotherapy or a matched number of drug counseling sessions to a multi-modal drug treatment program in a sample of black, cocaine-dependent men. Both interventions will be added to a drug rehabilitation program at the New Orleans V.A. hospital. It is hypothesized that Supportive-Expressive psychotherapy will yield greater improvements than Drug Counseling on most assessment measures. Contrary to some studies that suggest that insight-oriented therapies are not of benefit to blacks, it is suggested that a brief course of Supportive-Expressive psychotherapy will be beneficial especially when specific ethnic factors are considered. The design of the study is a prospective intervention model utilizing stratification on two variables and subsequent random assignment into one of the two treatment conditions. Treatment by two therapists per intervention will be carried out over 16 weeks. An intake period of 30 months will be required to recruit an estimated 374 study-patients who will meet inclusion criteria and agree to participate. Subjects will be assessed pretreatment, at completion of treatment (16 weeks) and at 6 months' follow-up. Outcome will be assessed using measures of drug use, treatment compliance, psychotherapy and social factors. Predictors of outcome will include other measures in the same areas as well as type of treatment. Measures used to stratify the sample will be psychiatric severity, and verbal ability. Therapies will be independently assessed with regard to how well they adhere to treatment guidelines in standard manuals.
| Pena, J M; Bland, I J; Shervington, D et al. (2000) Racial identity and its assessment in a sample of African-American men in treatment for cocaine dependence. Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse 26:97-112 |
| Pena, J M; Franklin, R R; Rice, J C et al. (1999) A two-rate hypothesis for patterns of retention in psychosocial treatments of cocaine dependence: findings from a study of African-American men and a review of the published data. Am J Addict 8:319-31 |
| Foulks, E F; Pena, J M (1995) Ethnicity and psychotherapy. A component in the treatment of cocaine addiction in African Americans. Psychiatr Clin North Am 18:607-20 |
