Relationships between treatment components, client-level factors, and positive treatment outcomes

How different amounts and components of treatment affect substance abuse tr eatment outcomes is fundamentally important to evaluating current treatment practices and recommending improvements. Through a secondary analysis of d ata from the National Treatment improvement Evaluation Study (NTIES), the p resent study examined the relationships between treatment components, clien t-level factors, and positive treatment outcomes. Several components were s hown to have significant effects on the odds of a positive outcome over and above the effects of client background characteristics. Depending on treat ment modality, these included length of stay; whether or not clients report ed seeing their treatment plan; hours per month in group and individual cou nseling; utilization of educational, vocational, and other ancillary servic es; use of antianxiety and drug and alcohol medications; and client matchin g, Several interactions between client-level factors and treatment componen ts were also observed. Study limitations ave discussed, followed by implica tions for policy and practice and suggestions for further research.