The Relationship of Social Support to Treatment Entry and Engagement: The Community Assessment Inventory

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to determine the psychometric properties of a measure of social support, the Community Assessment Inventory (CAI), and to examine the role of social support in recovery. The CAI and the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) were administered to 196 opioid-dependent adults in (n = 135) or out of (n = 61) methadone treatment in Baltimore, Maryland, between 2004 and 2006. Baseline CAI scale scores indicated a generally high level of internal consistency (α scores). Pearson correlations showed that the scales were stable and had good discriminant validity with the ASI composite scores. One-way analysis of variance indicated that in-treatment participants reported significantly more support at baseline than out-of-treatment participants. This study's findings indicate the CAI may be a useful measure of social support and that such support is an important factor in treatment entry.

KEYWORDS:

• Heroin addiction
• methadone maintenance
• opioid addiction
• social support
• treatment engagement
• treatment entry

This study was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse grant “Entry and Engagement in Methadone Maintenance Treatment” (R01 DA015842, Robert P. Schwartz, PI). The authors wish to express their appreciation to the research participants; research assistants Terrence Hudson, Warren Lee, Donnette Randolph, and Sheree Roles; staff at Man Alive Research, Glenwood Life Counseling Center, Daybreak Rehabilitation Center, Awakenings Counseling Programs, REACH Mobile Health Services, and Turning Point Clinic; and Ms. Melissa Morsell, for expert assistance in preparing the manuscript.

Notes

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∗∗ P < .01.

∗ P < .05.

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∗ P < .05.

∗∗P < .01.