Motivational Incentives for Enhanced Drug Abuse Recovery: Methadone Clinics
Maxine Stitzer, Ph.D. Lead Investigator Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine 5510 Nathan Shock Dr. Baltimore, MD 21224 mstitzer@mail.jhmi.edu

To improve treatment outcomes, it is necessary to use interventions that can motivate clients to attend treatment and initiate and sustain abstinence. Extensive research has consistently shown that client motivation for positive behavioral change can be influenced by the use of novel interventions based on established behavioral principles. In numerous controlled experimental studies in both outpatient cocaine treatment and methadone maintenance programs, procedures involving the provision of tangible incentives (prizes, coupons, vouchers, e.g.) to clients for drug-free urines resulted in sustained periods of abstinence and retention in treatment. This study in methadone-based Community Treatment Programs (CTPs) will utilize incentive values that are considerably lower in cost than those typically used in research clinics.

Primary Findings: Patients assigned to the abstinence-based incentive condition were twice as likely to submit alcohol- and stimulant-free urine samples, compared to patients assigned to the usual care condition. Achieving up to 12 weeks of continuous abstinence was more likely for abstinence-based incentive versus usual care patients. Groups did not differ on study retention of counseling attendance. Prizes cost on average $120 per patient. A low-cost abstinence-based procedure was effective in clinics. Source: Peirce J, et al. Effects of lower-cost incentives on stimulant abstinence in methadone maintenance treatment. Archives of General Psychiatry 2006;63:201-208. [get article]

  RELATED STUDIES

• CTN-0007-A-1: Survey of Counselor's Perceptions of Incentive Programs
• CTN-0007-A-2: Economic Evaluations in the CTN -- Methods & Applications

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