Client Family-Member Participation Is Associated with Improved Residential Treatment Program Completion at an International Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center

Abstract

Prior research at Crossroads Centre Antigua has shown a 15% increase in long-term abstinence rates of clients if a family member attended the family program. This study examines the association of family program participation on client residential treatment completion. A retrospective review of records of all clients admitted from January 2004 to June 2007 was performed. Participation of client family members in the family program (a 4-day program including didactic material, workshops, group and individual counseling sessions for interested family members) was recorded. Information obtained from a limited client database, in addition to family program participation, included age, gender, country of residence, drug of choice, and 29-day treatment program completion. Data from clients having family members participate in the family program were compared with clients not having family members participate. There were 1,014 clients admitted, 681/1,014 (67%) men, mean age 41years, 733/1,014 (72%) from the United States. There were 187/1,014 (18%) clients using opioids either alone or with other drugs, 330/1,014 (33%) using cocaine or another stimulant drug alone or with other drugs, and 497/1,014 (49%) using alcohol or another non-prescribed sedative drug alone or with other drugs not including opioids or cocaine/stimulants. Of these clients, 207/1,014 (27%) had 416 family members (155/416 [37%] parents or step-parents; 133/416 [32%] spouses, significant others, or partners; 67/416 [16%] siblings or step-siblings; 38/416 [9%] children or step-children; and 23/416 [6%] other individuals) attend the family program. For all clients admitted, 902/1,014 (89%) completed the 29-day residential stay. The clients who had family members participate in the family program were significantly more likely to complete their stay (266/270 [99%]) than those clients who did not have family members participate (636/744 [86%]; chi-square p < .0005. Those with family members attending had no significant difference in other factors that may affect treatment completion, such as age (40 vs. 41 years), gender (65% vs. 68% male), country of residence (73% vs. 71% from the United States), or opioid drug (17% vs. 19%), cocaine/stimulant (34% vs. 32%) or alcohol/sedative as primary drug (49% vs. 49%). These data suggest that participation of a client family member in a family program, independent of other clinical risk factors, is associated with significantly improved treatment retention, a surrogate marker for better long-term abstinence rates following residential treatment.

KEYWORDS:

• addiction treatment outcomes
• Crossroads Centre Antigua
• family therapy
• residential addiction treatment

We acknowledge and appreciate the support of the Crossroads Foundation in New York and London. We thank the clinical, management, and support staff at Crossroads Centre Antigua for their hard work. We especially wish to thank J. and Gilly Rainey for their work with the Crossroads Centre Antigua families through the years. Thanks to Eric: “… they showed me a better way—my three little girls …”

Presented in part at the 38th Annual Medical-Scientific Conference of the American Society of Addiction Medicine in Miami, FL, April 2007.