Dual diagnosis patients in substance abuse treatment: relationship of general coping and substance-specific coping to 1-year outcomes

• Published in: Addiction (Abingdon, England) Vol. 94; no. 12; pp. 1805 - 1816
• Main Authors: Moggi, Franz, Ouimette, Paige Crosby, Moos, Rudolf H., Finney, John W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Carfax Publishing, Taylor & Francis Ltd 01.12.1999; Blackwell; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Adaptation, Psychological; Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Clinical outcomes; Comorbidity; Coping; Coping skills; Desintoxication. Drug withdrawal; Diagnosis, Dual (Psychiatry); Follow-Up Studies; Health care; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Medical treatment; Mental Disorders - psychology; Mental Disorders - therapy; Mental health; Mental Health Services; Mental Patients; Outcomes; Prospective Studies; Psychiatric disorders; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Relationship; Self Help Groups; Substance Abuse; Substance abuse treatment; Substance abusers; Substance-Related Disorders - psychology; Substance-Related Disorders - therapy; Surveys and Questionnaires; Treatment Outcomes; Treatment Programs; Treatments; Human; Drug addiction; Concomitant disease; Treatment; Alcoholism; Detoxification; Mental disorder; Evolution; Male; Coping
• ISSN: 0965-2140; 1360-0443
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1360-0443.1999.941218056.x

Aims. This study examined general and substance‐specific coping skills and their relationship to treatment climate, continuing care and 1‐year post‐treatment functioning among dual diagnosis patients (i.e. co‐occurrence of substance use and psychiatric disorders). Design. In a prospective multi‐site study, dual diagnosis patients participating in substance abuse treatment were assessed at intake, discharge and at a 1‐year follow‐up. Setting. Patients were recruited from 15 substance abuse treatment programs, which were selected from a larger pool of 174 inpatient treatment programs in the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System. Participants. A total of 981 male dual diagnosis patients participated in the study. Measurements. Assessments included general and substance‐specific coping skills, treatment climate, continuing outpatient care, abstinence and clinically significant psychiatric symptoms. Findings. Dual diagnosis patients modestly improved on general and substance‐specific coping skills over the 1‐year follow‐up period. Patients who were in programs with a 'dual diagnosis treatment climate' and who participated in more 12‐Step self‐help groups showed slightly more gains in adaptive coping. Both general and substance‐specific coping were associated with abstinence, but only general coping was associated with freedom from significant psychiatric symptoms. Conclusions. Enhancing general and substance‐specific coping skills in substance abuse treatment may reduce dual diagnosis patients' post‐treatment substance use and improve their psychological functioning.