Completers from a detoxification unit: Some cost‐benefit considerations after using psychometric tests

Completion of residential treatment has been taken to imply an improvement in prognosis toward rehabilitation and a life without drug abuse. On a sample of 61 consecutive clients in a detoxification and counseling unit, Antonovsky's Sense of Coherence test (SOC) and Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL) were administered to detoxified clients in the second week of a 4‐week residential stay in order to indicate noncompletion. Eighteen clients (29.5%) did not complete their stay, and 17 of them had abnormal scores on the SOC and 12 on the HSCL scale, respectively. No attempt was made to use the information from the tests to influence completion rate. Increased emphasis on revealing the preferences of the clients toward values in life based on test results purportedly reduces noncompletion. The benefit to public budgets of using such information to prevent defection was calculated for three areas of interest: imputed reduction of future residential detoxification, reduction of future treatment sessions, and increase in taxable income from rehabilitated drug addicts. The total benefit per client was NKR19 000 (£1900, $2920) and NKR69 000 per noncompleter. High‐cost detoxification units would also benefit from reduction of noncompletion.

Key words:

• detoxification
• cost‐benefit
• residential treatment
• substance abuse
• Sense of Coherence Scale
• Hopkins Symptom Checklist

Notes

Drug Research Group, Institute of General Practice and Community Medicine, University of Oslo, Box 1130, Blindern, N‐0317 Oslo, Norway.