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Abstract
The goal of this descriptive study is to analyse the effectiveness and efficiency in economic and temporal terms of different strategies for the recruitment of participants who have recovered without help from problems with alcohol and other drugs. Diverse recruitment strategies were implemented (press advertisements, publicizing through the media, posters, snowball technique and request for help from healthcare professionals) over a two-year period in two different countries, and the results compared in terms of effectiveness and efficiency in the recruitment of self-changers. This study was carried out in various regions of Spain and in South Florida (USA). With these strategies a total of 54 Spanish-speaking participants were recruited who had changed their consumption habits without therapeutic help, 29 of them in Spain and 25 in Florida. Economic cost and time spent for the implementation of each strategy were assessed. These costs were divided by the number of participants recruited in order to obtain the economic and temporal efficiency of each strategy. Effectiveness was analysed by means of the number of participants recruited. Advertisements emerged as the most effective and efficient strategy in terms of time, while posters was the most efficient strategy in economic terms. The recruitment of self-changers is one of the greatest obstacles facing studies that set out to analyse self-change in drug use. The economic and temporal costs are high. Further work is needed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of recruitment strategies with the aim of optimizing the resources employed in studies on natural recovery in addictive behaviours.