Investigating Patients’ Perceptions of Residential Substance Use Treatment. Is Drop Out a Deliberate or Impulsive Act?

Figures & data

Table 1. Sample characteristics (N = 68)

	Variable	n	%
Gender	Male	50	73.5
	Female	18	26.5
Age	18–23 yrs 24–29 yrs 30–35 yrs >36 yrs	14 29 10 14	20.9 43.3 14.9 20,9
Previous admissions	None	25	37.3
	One	21	31.3
	Two	8	11.9
	Three times or more	13	19.4
Days in treatment before dropout	0–30 d 31–60 d 61–90 d 91–120 d 121–150 d 151–180 d	33 12 8 7 5 2	48.5 19.1 11.8 10.3 7.4 2.9
Execution of sentence in an institution (all men)	Wholly or partly §12*	11	19.6
Self-reported psychological burden at the time of dropout.	Symptoms of anxiety	23	34.4
	Symptoms of feeling depressed/depression	26	39.0
	Trauma/abuse	20	30.0
	Internal turmoil/emotional chaos	44	66.0
	Other	12	17.9

*§12: The Execution of Sentences Act Amended by Act of 15 June 2001 No. 64.The § 12 law provides the opportunity that criminal proceedings may in some cases take place in approved treatment facilities for SUD. These patients where registered the last three years of data collection.

Table 2. Differences among non-completers with and without active thoughts of dropout in relation to satisfaction scores, psychological burden and different treatment aspects

	Active thoughts on dropout			No active thoughts on dropout
	n	Mean	SD	n	Mean	SD	p
Perception of waiting time	41	2.07	0.818	21	2.38	0.921	0.222
Received information about the institution	41	2.49	1.143	21	2.65	1.348	0.772
Received at the institution in a satisfactory manner	41	4.00	0.632	21	3.81	0.995	1.00
Met with courtesy and respect	41	3.85	0.910	21	3.9	1.044	0.723
Treated patronizingly by the clinical staff	41	1.59	1.117	21	1.67	1.238	0.954
Felt safe at the institution	41	3.88	1.100	21	4.19	1.167	0.136
Potential benefit from treatment	41	3.05	1.203	19	4.05	1.026	0.002
Enough time for conversations with clinical staff	39	2.90	0.995	20	2.65	1.182	0.342
Confidence in staff competence	40	3.23	1.143	21	3.38	1.322	0.687
Importance of co-habitants	38	3.26	1.115	21	3.90	0.995	0.037
Sum of treatment related factors the patient rated as difficult^a	41	1.76	0.995	21	1.10	1.044	0.016
Psychological burden (sum of self-reported psychological issues^b)	41	1.85	0.995	21	1.57	1.044	0.541

^aSum of scores on treatment factors the patients had perceived as difficult: group therapy, TC work structure, share accommodation with others, not having access to clinical staff and other.

^bSum of scores of the variables related to mental health: symptoms of depression, anxiety, trauma, internal turmoil and other.