Characteristics of facilities with specialized programming for drinking drivers and for other criminal justice involved clients: analysis of a national database

Understanding the drug treatment community's ambivalence towards tobacco use and treatment

BACKGROUND

Most clients in drug treatment smoke cigarettes, but few facilities provide treatment for tobacco dependence. We identify subjective experiences and social processes that may influence facility adoption of tobacco treatment policies and practices.

METHODS

Cross-sectional, semi-structured interviews were conducted with staff, directors and clients of 8 drug treatment facilities in the Midwestern U.S. We assembled a purposive sample stratified by ownership, methadone provision, and treatment service provision. We conducted in-person interviews with clinic directors and 54 staff and clients and employed a mixed-method analytic approach.

RESULTS

Facility policies and philosophy related to tobacco differed from those regarding alcohol and other drugs. Participants suggested facilities may not treat tobacco dependence because it does not create legal and social problems that force clients into treatment. Tobacco dependence treatment falls outside of a core function of drug treatment, which is to help clients fix legal problems caused by their drug use. Moreover, proactively treating clients for tobacco dependence creates strong ambivalence amongst staff and directors. On the one hand, staff smoking would violate core principles of drug treatment (i.e., the importance of staff abstinence from drugs of abuse); on the other, staff who smoke feel their personal rights and jobs are threatened. This situation creates strong incentives for staff to resist adoption of tobacco dependence treatment. Unlike other studies, the fear of jeopardising clients' abstinence from other drugs did not emerge as a downside for treating tobacco dependence.

CONCLUSIONS

International and national trends will probably increase the pressure to treat tobacco dependence during drug treatment. However, the U.S. context of drug treatment, as a patchwork, under-funded industry with high employee turnover, may undermine true adoption. At present, many facility staff resolve their ambivalence by reporting they "offer" treatment, but actually providing none. To facilitate dissemination of service provision, it may be useful to identify incentives for U.S. facilities that are closely aligned with the criminal justice system, help facilities define policies and treatment roles for staff who smoke, and better define the role of facilities in preventing morbidity and mortality.

Availability and capacity of substance abuse programs in correctional settings: A classification and regression tree analysis

OBJECTIVE TO BE ADDRESSED: The purpose of this study was to investigate the structural and organizational factors that contribute to the availability and increased capacity for substance abuse treatment programs in correctional settings. We used classification and regression tree statistical procedures to identify how multi-level data can explain the variability in availability and capacity of substance abuse treatment programs in jails and probation/parole offices.

METHODS

The data for this study combined the National Criminal Justice Treatment Practices (NCJTP) Survey and the 2000 Census. The NCJTP survey was a nationally representative sample of correctional administrators for jails and probation/parole agencies. The sample size included 295 substance abuse treatment programs that were classified according to the intensity of their services: high, medium, and low. The independent variables included jurisdictional-level structural variables, attributes of the correctional administrators, and program and service delivery characteristics of the correctional agency.

RESULTS

The two most important variables in predicting the availability of all three types of services were stronger working relationships with other organizations and the adoption of a standardized substance abuse screening tool by correctional agencies. For high and medium intensive programs, the capacity increased when an organizational learning strategy was used by administrators and the organization used a substance abuse screening tool. Implications on advancing treatment practices in correctional settings are discussed, including further work to test theories on how to better understand access to intensive treatment services. This study presents the first phase of understanding capacity-related issues regarding treatment programs offered in correctional settings.