Profiles of Heroin Addicts in Different Treatment Conditions and in the Community

Abstract

This article describes profiles of heroin addicts in three types of treatment (methadone, detox and therapeutic community) and those not in treatment in the local community. The profiles are based on data at item-level of the revised Addiction Severity Index. In total, 310 heroin addicts were interviewed. The results show that on the one hand the community group and the methadone group are roughly comparable, and on the other hand the detox and therapeutic community groups have similar characteristics. The latter groups report significantly more psychological and social problems. The community group mentions the fewest problems with drug use and more illegal activities in the past month. The results indicate that large differences exist between the groups in psychosocial problems. Furthermore, they indicate that the methadone group has no specific pattern of problems. Two important groups outside treatment are identified with respect to matching: addicts under 25 years old and addicts with a non-Dutch cultural background.

Is the ‘community as method’ approach gender sensitive? Client and treatment characteristics in European therapeutic communities. Results of the BIOMED II (IPTRP) project

“…In the past two decades, however, increasing attention has been given to women, but they are still under-represented in TC treatment (ElandGoossensen, van de Goor, Benschop & Garretsen, 1998;Hinojal Fonseca, Martinez & Rodriguez-Hevia, 1988;Kokkevi, Stefanis, Anastasopoulou & Kostogianni, 1998;Poulopoulos & Tsiboukli, 1999;Ravndal & Vaglum, 1999;Ravndal et al, 2001). This is also the case in our study.…”

Översikt

“…Eland- Goossensen et al (1998) har i en hollandsk undersøgelse fundet en raekke forskelle og ligheder hos stofmisbrugere, der var i henholdsvis a) afgiftning alene, n=37, b) stoffri døgnbehandling, n=81, c) metadonbehandling, n=90 og d) ikke i behandling, n=81. De fandt, at stofmisbrugere i afgiftning og døgn-behandling havde flere markante lighedspunkter, og at stofmisbrugere i metadon og stofmisbrugere, der ikke var i behandling, på flere områder lignede hinanden.…”

Under-utilisation of Addiction Treatment Services by Heroin users from Ethnic Minorities: Results from a Cohort Study Over Four Years

“…In The Netherlands this picture is not very different. It is estimated that about 40-50% of drug users consist of people of Surinamese, Moroccan, Dutch-Antillean or Turkish descent (Braam et al, 1998, see also Ministry of Health, 1997Van de Wijngaart, 1997;De Graaf et al, 2000;Lempens et al, 2000), but they are under-represented in residential addiction treatment centres (Eland-Goossensen et al, 1998). In addition, a higher dropout rate from outpatient addiction treatment was found among clients from ethnic minorities (Vrieling et al, 2000).…”