The issue of assessing readiness for treatment is particularly compelling. A large body of research consistently documents the correlation between retention and the effectiveness of treatment in all modalities, yet dropout remains the rule in each modality. The ability of programs to identify clients who are most at risk for dropout or treatment failure can augment the treatment planning process by providing better support through a more targeted internal allocation of services and other resources. The ability of outreach and referral programs to assess the extent of readiness for treatment involvement can help improve the appropriateness of referrals and the utilization of treatment resources. There are two major aims of this two year secondary analysis.
Aim 1 assess the generality of the Circumstances, Motivation, Readiness and Suitability as a reliable and valid predictor of treatment seeking, retention and/or outcomes, while Aim 2 seeks to identify the client demographic and psychological characteristics associated with motivation to change and readiness for treatment. The renewal considerably extends the current work by testing the generality of the Circumstances, motivation, readiness and Suitability to: 1) special populations of drug abusers, including women with children, homeless people, and prisoners in correctional institutions; 2) additional treatment modalities beyond the long term residential TC, including drug free out patient, and methadone maintenance; and 3) non treatment samples of drug abusers.
| Melnick, Gerald; Hawke, Josephine; De Leon, George (2014) Motivation and readiness for drug treatment: differences by modality and special populations. J Addict Dis 33:134-47 |
| De Leon, G; Melnick, G; Kressel, D et al. (1994) Circumstances, motivation, readiness, and suitability (the CMRS scales): predicting retention in therapeutic community treatment. Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse 20:495-515 |
