ASSESSMENT OF COERCIVE AND NONCOERCIVE PRESSURES TO ENTER DRUG-ABUSE TREATMENT

This paper reports preliminary data derived from a standardized interv iew scoring procedure for detecting and characterizing coercive and no ncoercive pressures to enter substance abuse treatment. Coercive and n oncoercive pressures stemming from multiple psychosocial domains are o perationalized through recourse to established behavioral principles. Inter-rater reliability for the scoring procedure was exceptional over numerous rater trials. Substantive analyses indicate that, among clie nts in outpatient cocaine treatment, 'coercion' is operative in multip le psychosocial domains, and that subjects perceive legal pressures as exerting substantially less influence over their decisions to enter t reatment than informal psychosocial pressures. Implications for drug t reatment planning, legal and ethical issues, and directions for future research are proposed.