Reinforcement of Abstinence and Continuing Care in Substance Abuse Treatment

The Contracts, Prompts, and Social Reinforcement (CPR) intervention was designed to address the continuing care adherence needs of veterans presenting for substance use disorder (SUD) treatment. Final results of our recently completed HSR&D clinical trial suggest CPR meaningfully impacts aftercare adherence and abstinence rates. Among CPR participants, 55% met the VA's SUD continuity of care performance measure (attending at least 2 therapy sessions each month for 3 months), compared to 36% of those in standard treatment (STX). On the primary outcome variable, 57% of the participants in the CPR condition were abstinent at the 1-year follow-up compared to 37% of those in STX. Post hoc moderator analyses also indicate that the intervention was particularly effective for participants with co-morbid psychiatric disorders. However, CPR did not impact abstinence rates at earlier follow-up points, other important measures of treatment outcome, or AA/NA support group attendance. Furthermore, the generalizability of CPR to other sites has not been established. Thus, the intervention has been modified and pilot testing of this improved version of CPR, which includes contingent reinforcement of abstinence and improved prompting of AA/NA attendance (CPR+), shows promising results. We conducted a multi-site randomized clinical trial to examine the effectiveness of CPR+ with 2 specific goals: 1) to compare CPR+ to STX on adherence to continuing care (i.e., AA/NA participation and aftercare therapy) and 2) to assess its effect on treatment outcome. We recruited 183 veterans seeking residential treatment at the Salem and Jackson VAMCs. Our primary hypothesis is that the CPR group will have higher 1-year abstinence rates compared to the STX group. Our secondary hypotheses are that the CPR will be particularly effective for individuals with co-morbid psychiatric disorders, and that the CPR+ group will remain in AA/NA and in aftercare for a longer duration, have fewer days of substance use, fewer hospitalizations, and lower costs of care. Treatment outcome will be measured 3-, 6-, and 12-months after participants enter treatment and compared to baseline levels using the Form-90 Interview, the Addiction Severity Index (ASI), questionnaire responses, and substance use screens. Treatment adherence will be measured using VA databases, medical records, therapist ratings, and questionnaire responses. Abstinence rates will be analyzed using a logistic regression model in which the parameters of interest are estimated using Generalized Estimating Equations. Secondary outcomes will be analyzed using both marginal and linear mixed-effects models as appropriate. The current study sought to extend past findings to show longer-term effectiveness of the CPR+ intervention on continuing care adherence and greater impact on treatment outcome. Dissemination and implementation efforts are ongoing for this brief, inexpensive intervention, which offers an important means to improve participation and outcome for individuals seeking SUD treatment within the VAMC.

Inclusion criteria

Participants were recruited from consecutive veterans who successful complete the 28-day SARRTP at the Salem VAMC and the 21-day SARRTP at the Jackson VAMC. Participants who are uninterested in aftercare, who have unstable housing or other factors that made aftercare participation difficult, will be included to maximize the generalizability of our results.

Exclusion criteria

Individuals who did not live within a 60-minute drive, and those who did not have transportation and a work schedule allowing attendance of aftercare were ineligible.