PREFERENCES FOR CLINIC PRIVILEGES, RETAIL ITEMS AND SOCIAL ACTIVITIESIN AN OUTPATIENT BUPRENORPHINE TREATMENT PROGRAM

This study evaluated preferences for various clinic privileges, retail items, and social activities for use in an outpatient opioid dependen ce treatment program. Fifty-three opioid-dependent patients who receiv ed treatment with buprenorphine for at least 30 days rank ordered II c linic privileges, 19 retail items, and 8 social activities from the mo st desirable (a rank of 1) to the least desirable (a rank equal to the number of items in that category). Additional questions determined pr eference for counseling frequency and dosing levels. The top three mea n rankings for clinic privileges were $50 cash for opioid-negative uri nes (2.8), take-home doses of buprenorphine (3.6), and voucher points for opioid-negative urines (4.7). The top three mean rankings for reta il items were restaurant gift certificates (4.1), movie passes (4.9), and videotape movie and player rentals (6.8). The top three mean ranki ngs for social activities were movies (2.4), barbecues (3.8), and hiki ng trips (4.3). There was no preference reported for increases or decr eases in counseling frequency. Seventy-four percent of subjects prefer red to increase their buprenorphine dose by an average of 60.84% indep endent of their present dose. Consistent with previous findings from m ethadone treatment, cash payments for opioid-negative urines and fake- home medication were the highest ranked clinic privileges. These-resul ts suggest that various retail items and social activities may also be useful for reinforcing positive treatment outcomes during outpatient opioid treatment.