Attrition in Drug Court Research: Examining Participant Characteristics and Recommendations for Follow-Up

Abstract

Drug court research is often challenged by study attrition. In this study, researchers attempted to predict study completion using variables traditionally associated with treatment attrition. Findings showed that participants who reported a need for additional help to resolve legal problems and who reported accessing outpatient treatments were more likely to complete the study at the 3-month follow-up. The study also demonstrated a relationship between trauma-related symptoms and study attrition. Although sample size was a limitation with these pilot data, researchers are urged to examine attrition and increase efforts to engage drug court enrollees in research studies, especially those with trauma-related symptoms.

Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by awards from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (T32-AA007583) and the University at Buffalo, Research Institute on Addictions, Research Development Fund.

Notes

Note. Demographics are not significantly different across groups. The dash (—) indicates that there is no available data. Other employment includes student, disabled, retired.

Note. Standard deviations appear in parentheses next to means. Only items demonstrating significant differences are included. Perceived need for treatment is measured on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (extremely). For trauma symptoms, only those participants who reported having ever experienced trauma are included.

^† p ≤ .10. *p ≤ .05.

Note. Significance level for variable inclusion was relaxed to account for sample size.

^a The variable was not retained in the regression equation on the final step of the stepwise analysis. For trauma symptoms, only those people who reported having ever experienced trauma are included.

^† p ≤ .10. *p ≤ .05. **p ≤ .01.