One-Year Treatment Patterns and Change Trajectories for Adolescents Participating in Outpatient Treatment for the First Time

• Published in: Journal of psychoactive drugs Vol. 40; no. 1; pp. 17 - 28
• Main Authors: Godley, Susan H., Passetti, Lora L., Funk, Rodney R., Garner, Bryan R., Godley, Mark D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Taylor & Francis Group 01.03.2008; Haight Ashbury Publications
• Subjects: Adolescent; adolescents; Affective Symptoms - epidemiology; Affective Symptoms - rehabilitation; Alcoholism - epidemiology; Alcoholism - rehabilitation; Ambulatory Care - statistics & numerical data; ASAM; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - epidemiology; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - rehabilitation; Behavior; Child Behavior Disorders - epidemiology; Child Behavior Disorders - rehabilitation; clinical monitoring; Clinical outcomes; Cluster analysis; Cognition & reasoning; Combined Modality Therapy; Comorbidity; Conduct Disorder - epidemiology; Conduct Disorder - rehabilitation; course of recovery; Female; Humans; Internal-External Control; Juvenile justice; Male; Organizational structure; Outcome and Process Assessment (Health Care) - statistics & numerical data; Outpatient care facilities; Patient Admission - statistics & numerical data; Retreatment - statistics & numerical data; Secondary Prevention; Statistics as Topic; Street Drugs; Studies; substance use treatment; Substance-Related Disorders - epidemiology; Substance-Related Disorders - rehabilitation; Therapy; treatment patterns
• ISSN: 0279-1072; 2159-9777
• DOI: 10.1080/02791072.2008.10399758

The American Society on Addiction Medicine's Patient Placement criteria are commonly used in adolescent treatment. However, the use of these criteria and how they affect the course of treatment and interact with adolescent change has not been examined. Twelve-month treatment patterns were examined for 176 adolescents who entered their first ever episode in a treatment system using these criteria. Forty-one percent of the adolescents received additional treatment after their initial outpatient episode with over 30 unique treatment sequences (i.e., various combinations of outpatient, intensive outpatient, and residential treatment). Significant differences in treatment patterns were found between the change trajectory groups. For example, adolescents who participated in only one outpatient treatment episode were more likely to be in the low alcohol and drug use (AOD) group and less likely to have high rates of time in a controlled environment or to report moderate AOD use. Over one-third of the adolescents participated in additional treatment and almost one-quarter of those who only participated in outpatient treatment had problematic use. These findings suggest the need for clinical monitoring protocols that can be used to identify adolescents needing additional treatment or recovery services.