Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2009 May;104(5):786-95.
doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2009.02560.x.

Improving substance abuse treatment enrollment in community syringe exchangers

Michael Kidorf  1 , Van L King, Karin Neufeld, Jessica Peirce, Ken Kolodner, Robert K Brooner
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Improving substance abuse treatment enrollment in community syringe exchangers

Michael Kidorf et al. Addiction. 2009 May.

Abstract

Aim: The present study evaluated the effectiveness of an intervention combining motivational enhancement and treatment readiness groups, with and without monetary incentives for attendance and treatment enrollment, on enhancing rates of substance abuse treatment entry among new registrants at the Baltimore Needle Exchange Program (BNEP).

Design: Opioid-dependent study participants (n = 281) referred by the BNEP were assigned randomly to one of three referral interventions: (i) eight individual motivational enhancement sessions and 16 treatment readiness group sessions (motivated referral condition--MRC); (ii) the MRC intervention with monetary incentives for attending sessions and enrolling in treatment--MRC+I); or (iii) a standard referral condition which directed participants back to the BNEP for referral (standard referral-SRC). Participants were followed for 4 months.

Findings: MRC+I participants were more likely to enroll in any type of treatment than MRC or SRC participants (52.1% versus 31.9% versus 35.5%; chi(2) = 9.12, P = 0.01), and more likely to enroll in treatment including methadone than MRC or SRC participants (40.4% versus 20.2% versus 16.1%; chi(2) = 16.65, P < 0.001). MRC+I participants also reported less heroin and injection use than MRC and SRC participants.

Conclusions: Syringe exchange sites can be effective platforms to motivate opioid users to enroll in substance abuse treatment and ultimately reduce drug use and number of drug injections.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources