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The effectiveness of telephone-based continuing care in the clinical management of alcohol and cocaine use disorders: 12-month outcomes.

McKay JR, Lynch KG, Shepard DS, Ratichek S, Morrison R, Koppenhaver J, Pettinati HM

Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Treatment Research Center, 3900 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. mckay_j@mail.trc.upenn.edu

This study of continuing care for substance dependent patients compared a telephone-based monitoring and brief counseling intervention (TEL) with 2 face-to-face interventions, relapse prevention (RP) and standard 12-step group counseling (STND). The participants were graduates of intensive outpatient programs who had current dependence on alcohol and/or cocaine. Self-report, collateral, and biological measures of alcohol and cocaine use were obtained over a 12-month follow-up. The treatment groups did not differ on abstinence-related outcomes in the complete sample (N = 359) or on cocaine use outcomes in participants with cocaine dependence (n = 268). However, in participants with alcohol dependence only (n = 91), TEL produced better alcohol use outcomes than STND on all measures examined and better outcomes than RP on some of the measures.

Published 22 December 2004 in J Consult Clin Psychol, 72(6): 967-79.
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