Increasing Retention of African-American Women on Welfare in Outpatient Substance User Treatment Using Low-Magnitude Incentives

Abstract

Contingency management (CM) has been found to be effective in increasing treatment retention in various outpatient substance user treatment populations; however, the costs of established CM protocols often exceed the financial resources of community-based, nonprofit treatment programs. The results of the present study provide initial evidence that a low-magnitude contingency management protocol can be effective in increasing both treatment attendance and completion rates in a sample of 54 urban, African-American, substance-using women on welfare, without creating undue financial or logistical burden on the treatment agency. The study's limitations and future research are noted.

Keywords:

• contingency management
• substance user treatment
• incentives
• attendance
• welfare
• women

Notes

¹The journal's style utilizes the category substance abuse as a diagnostic category. Substances are used or misused; living organisms are and can be abused. Chief Editor's note.