EFFICACY OF ENHANCED OUTREACH COUNSELING TO REENROLL HIGH-RISK DRUG-USERS 1 YEAR AFTER-DISCHARGE FROM TREATMENT

Objective: Because discharged methadone maintenance patients represent a population at particularly high public health risk, the authors stu died such patients 1 year after their discharge from a methadone progr am. Method: The locations of 94 of 110 discharged patients were succes sfully determined 1 year after discharge. Nine (10%) of these patients had died, 37 (39%) were already reenrolled in treatment, and 7 (7%) d id not require treatment. The 41 remaining subjects were randomly assi gned to either the enhanced outreach counseling condition (N=27) or a standard referral condition (N=14). Results: Within 2 weeks following this intervention, 17 (63 %) of the 27 patients in the enhanced outrea ch counseling program and one (7%) of the 14 patients not in the progr am had reenrolled in treatment. Conclusions: These data suggest that e nhanced outreach counseling may be an effective outreach strategy as w ell as a risk-reduction approach for discharged methadone maintenance patients.