The Diagnostic, Referral, and Data Management Unit will perform the central diagnostic, referral, and data management activities for the NIDA-funded outpatient and residential treatment programs in the District of Columbia. This Diagnostic Unit will conduct a complete medical, social, and psychological diagnostic evaluation on approximately 2000 clients per year over a three year period and refer these clients for appropriate treatment services. In addition, the Diagnostic Unit will track the progress of clients referred to the NIDA-funded programs utilizing an automated tracking system and will design and conduct, in collaboration with NIDA, treatment outcome evaluation research, which will include intake, in-treatment, post-treatment and follow-up evaluations of each of the clients referred to the treatment programs. Drug-dependent individuals will receive at intake a battery of diagnostic tests and instruments designed to measure severity of problems commonly found in drug-abusing populations. The measurements will examine factors such as medical condition, employment, drug use, alcohol use, illegal activity, family relations, psychiatric condition and severity, clinical depression, severity of addiction and craving, history of drug use, effects of dependency upon job and family, sexual practices, and HIV transmission risk behaviors. Blood samples will be drawn to test for HIV and hair and urine analysis will be conducted to test for cocaine, opiates, amphetamines, marijuana and PCP. Clients participating in the treatment research programs will receive ongoing assessments which will be subjected to statistical analysis to examine various relationships between diagnosis, drug use, treatment outcome, and relapse. Promising treatment interventions will be compared and evaluated.
| Wish, E D; Hoffman, J A; Nemes, S (1997) The validity of self-reports of drug use at treatment admission and at followup: comparisons with urinalysis and hair assays. NIDA Res Monogr 167:200-26 |
| Hoffman, J A; Eckert, M A; Koman 3rd, J J et al. (1996) Profiles of clients in government-funded drug user treatment settings. Subst Use Misuse 31:453-77 |
