Reinforcing compliance with non-drug-related activities

Contingency management (CM) procedures, that provide incentives for specifi c behaviors, are, efficacious in treating substance use disorders. Typicall y, CM interventions reinforce submission of urine specimens negative for th e targeted drug(s) of abuse, but other behaviors can be reinforced as well, such as compliance with non-drug-related activities. This article describe s 1,059 activities chosen by 46 subjects participating in one of two CM stu dies. The most frequently chosen activities were related to recreational ac tivities (going to movies, library, or church) and sobriety (attending Alco holics Anonymous meetings, completing worksheets). Over 95% of subjects par ticipated in at least one of these types of activities, and together they a ccounted for over 70% of the activities selected. Over half the subjects pa rticipated in at least one activity related to employment, health, family, and personal improvement, such as applying for a job, attending a medical a ppointment, taking their child to an event, or creating weekly to-do lists. A detailed description of activity selection and verification procedures m ay assist in developing consistent approaches across treatment settings, an d future research may evaluate further the efficacy of this contingency man agement approach in treating substance abusers. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science I nc. All rights reserved.