This project investigates the impact of training family members to assist in the treatment of methadone maintenance patients. It occurs in a methadone program that requires applicants to have a family member or non-drug-using friend who will """"""""sponsor"""""""" their treatment.
The specific aims are to test the impact of a 20-hour training program for sponsors and to examine family functioning in the early months of methadone maintenance. One-hundred twenty sponsors of methadone maintenance patients will be assigned randomly to receive training or to a control group that receives no more than the standard treatment (monthly meetings of sponsors). Measures of impact focus on (1) the sponsor [confidence in assisting the methadone patient in treatment, attitude toward methadone treatment, and knowledge about drugs and family dynamics], (2) the patient [drug use, counselor ratings, and treatment satisfaction], and (3) the relationship of sponsor and patient (intensity of contact, social network of non-drug-users, and willingness to attend joint counseling sessions]. A smaller group of sponsor-patient pairs will provide additional measures of family functioning and severity of addiction at baseline, and shortly after the patient begins treatment. The Community Network project is an outgrowth of research demonstrating the promise of family treatment with drug abusers. It reaches a wider population than others. This investigation is a part of a search for psychosocial treatments that modify drug abusers' support systems, making rehabilitation more possible.
| Gibson, D R; Sorensen, J L; Wermuth, L et al. (1992) Families are helped by drug treatment. Int J Addict 27:961-78 |
| Costantini, M F; Wermuth, L; Sorensen, J L et al. (1992) Family functioning as a predictor of progress in substance abuse treatment. J Subst Abuse Treat 9:331-5 |
| Gibson, D; Wermuth, L; Sorensen, J L et al. (1987) Approval need in self-reports of addicts and family members. Int J Addict 22:895-903 |
| Wermuth, L; Scheidt, S (1986) Enlisting family support in drug treatment. Fam Process 25:25-33 |
| Sorensen, J L; Gibson, D; Bernal, G et al. (1985) Methadone applicant dropouts: impact of requiring involvement of friends or family in treatment. Int J Addict 20:1273-80 |
