Drug Abuse Intervention Statistics
April 14, 2008
Dr. Edward Bernstein and Dr. Judith Bernstein are a noted husband and wife team in the Boston University Schools of Medicine. In July of 2006, they released the findings of a study they conducted concerning the effects of brief interventions on men and women.
The study concluded that a brief, one-time meeting with peer addiction counselors while on a routine visit to a doctor’s office, followed up with a telephone call within the ensuing few days, showed a significant reduction among cocaine and heroin users.There were 1,175 men and women who had tested positive for cocaine or heroin use that were involved in this study. Additionally they were randomly divided into a control group as well as an intervention group. The counselor who conducted the 20 minute intervention session was a recovering addict, first asked permission to discuss their abuse based on the following three criteria:
1. assessing their readiness to make a change in their lives
2. eliciting the differences between the desired and the real quality of life
3. exploring the pros and cons of drug abuse
Also included in the intervention center was a call to action, specifically the development of a plan wherein they provided the individual with the following three actions or items:
1. a written list of options for treatment
2. referrals to a drug abuse treatment center
3. a telephone call that served as a follow-up 10 days later
Six months after the intervention session, the husband and wife team published the following three statistics:
1. Of those who tested positive for cocaine, 22.3% of the intervention group abstained compared to 16.9% of the control group
2. Of those who tested positive for heroin, 40.2% of the intervention group abstained compared to 30.6% of the control group
3. Of those who tested positive for both drugs, 17.4% of the intervention group were drug-free compared to 12.8% of the control group
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