It is commonly believed that treatment success depends in part on the client's motivation during a given episode of treatment and over the course of the treatment career. But client motivation has shown only modest predictive value in drug treatment research, and the concept of treatment motivation is not yet well understood with regard to drug users. We believe its relevance and meaning will become more clear if three issues are pursued. First, the predictive strength of treatment motivation may vary in relation to drug users' treatment careers or other characteristics. Second, treatment motivation and external pressure for treatment, e.g., legal coercion, may have important interactive effects. Third, stage-of-change research has identified cognitive variables that appear to be important correlates of recovery from smoking and alcohol abuse-with and without formal treatment. Similar research on the stages and correlates of change in drug users may help us understand why some who want to stop using drugs decide to seek treatment while others try to quit on their own. This project consists of three complementary studies. Study A will explore the psychometrics of treatment motivation measures as a function of drug users' treatment careers and other characteristics. For this study we will conduct extensive analyses of in-house datasets. Study B will use focus-group methods to better understand aspects of treatment motivation that remain unclear in Study A and will use survey methods to test revised treatment motivation measures, if needed, as well as measures of other cognitive variables. Study C will test the predictive value of treatment motivation.
Specific aims are: (1) Evaluate the psychometrics of treatment motivation measures in relation to drug users' treatment careers and other characteristics; (2) Examine the relationship between treatment motivation and stages of behavior change among drug users; (3) Examine cognitive variables (processes of change, abstinence self-efficacy, temptation to use drugs, attitudes toward quitting drug use, external pressure for treatment, expected benefit of treatment, and moral beliefs) that may underlie treatment motivation and stage of change among drug users; and (4) Assess the predictive value of treatment motivation in relation to users' treatment careers, primary drug, race/ethnicity, external pressure for treatment, stage of change, and other cognitive variables.
| Hampton, Ashley S; Conner, Bradley T; Albert, Dustin et al. (2011) Pathways to treatment retention for individuals legally coerced to substance use treatment: the interaction of hope and treatment motivation. Drug Alcohol Depend 118:400-7 |
| Conner, Bradley T; Stein, Judith A; Longshore, Douglas (2009) Examining self-control as a multidimensional predictor of crime and drug use in adolescents with criminal histories. J Behav Health Serv Res 36:137-49 |
| Conner, Bradley T; Longshore, Douglas; Anglin, M Douglas (2009) Modeling attitude towards drug treament: the role of internal motivation, external pressure, and dramatic relief. J Behav Health Serv Res 36:150-8 |
| Longshore, Douglas; Teruya, Cheryl (2006) Treatment motivation in drug users: a theory-based analysis. Drug Alcohol Depend 81:179-88 |
