Recovery high schools: Effect of schools supporting recovery from substance use disorders

ABSTRACT

Background: Recovery high schools (RHSs) provide post-treatment education and recovery support for young people with substance use disorders (SUDs). This is the first quasi-experimental outcome study to determine RHS effectiveness relative to students in non-RHSs. Objectives: To examine effects of RHS attendance on academic and substance use outcomes among adolescents treated for SUDs 6 months after recruitment to the study. Methods: A quasi-experimental design comparing outcomes for adolescents with treated SUDs who attended RHSs for at least 28 days versus a propensity-score balanced sample of students with treated SUDs who did not attend RHSs. The sample included 194 adolescents (134 in RHSs, 60 in non-RHSs) enrolled in Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Texas schools (M age = 16; 86% White; 49% female). Multilevel linear regression models were used to examine the effect of RHS attendance on students’ outcomes, after adjusting for a range of potential confounders. Results: Adolescents attending RHSs were significantly more likely than non-RHS students to report complete abstinence from alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs at the 6-month follow-up (OR = 4.36, p = .026), significantly lower levels of marijuana use (d = −0.51, p = .034) and less absenteeism from school (d = −0.56, p = .028). Conclusion: These results indicate that RHSs have significantly beneficial effects on substance use and school absenteeism after 6 months for adolescents treated for SUDs.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescents
• recovery schools
• school success
• substance use

This article is referred to by:

Recovery high schools may be a key component of youth recovery support services

Acknowledgments

Thanks to our many colleagues participating in this research including Andria Botzet, Christine Dittel, Barbara Dwyer, Tamara Fahnhorst, Barbara Hill, Holly Karakos, Stephanie Lindsley, Mark Lipsey, Patrick McIlvaine, Katarzyna Steinka-Fry, Luis Torres, David Weimer & Ken Winters.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no financial conflicts of interest, and each had an active part in preparing the final manuscript. One of the authors is a non-voting board member for the Association of Recovery Schools, but that author will receive no financial benefit from the findings published in this article.

Funding

This work was supported by Grant Number R01DA029785-01A1 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. This project has also benefited from the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) program, through the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) grant UL1TR000427.

Notes

1. The NSDUH defines substance use treatment as treatment received in order to reduce or stop illicit drug or alcohol use, or for medical problems associated with illicit drug or alcohol use. Location includes treatment received at any location, whether a specialty facility, such as a hospital (inpatient), rehabilitation facility (inpatient or outpatient), or mental health center; or non-specialty, such as an emergency room, private doctor’s office, self-help group, or prison/jail.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Grant Number R01DA029785-01A1 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. This project has also benefited from the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) program, through the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) grant UL1TR000427.