PROBLEM-SOLVING TYPES AMONG HIGH-RISK IDUS - POTENTIAL TREATMENT IMPLICATIONS

This research investigated whether high-risk injection drug users (IDU s) manifest distinct types, or profiles, of interpersonal cognitive pr oblem-solving (TCPS) abilities. Four measures of ICPS, the Means-Ends Problem-Solving procedure (MEPS), Optional Thinking Test (OTT), Awaren ess of Consequences Test (ACT), and Causal Thinking Test (CTT), were a dministered to 140 IDUs who volunteered for NIDA Demonstration Project s in Newark and Jersey City, NJ, to study high-risk behaviors in drug users and their sexual partners. At time of initial contact, none of t he subjects was currently enrolled in a treatment program. Hierarchica l and nonhierarchical cluster analyses were used with the MEPS, OTT, A CT, and CTT scores, and five IDU problem-solving types were identified . These types represented below-average, causal, generational, consequ ential, and above-average problem-solving skills. A rational conceptua lization of potential treatment implications for each of these types o f IDU problem solvers is discussed.