The high dropout rates across all treatment modalities for drug abuse suggests the need for a better system of matching the client to the treatment. To date, there are no objective measures standardized for drug abusing populations to help outreach, referral and treatment agencies determine which drug abusers are ready for treatment and which treatment that is most likely to retain them long enough for treatment to become effective. This Phase I application tests the feasibility of developing a computer assisted client treatment matching instrument for use in the treatment of drug abuse that will indicate motivation for change, readiness for treatment, and match clients with one of the five treatment modalities: heroin detox, methadone maintenance, outpatient, and short term (6 month) and long term (l year or more) therapeutic community (TC). The new instrument will be useful to central referral agencies, health and social welfare agencies, hospital emergency rooms, the courts, outreach programs, and multimodal treatment modalities.
