Services Research Outcomes Study (SROS)

1. SROS SAMPLE DESIGN

SROS SAMPLE DESIGN

SROS was designed to measure changes in the behavior of a nationally representative sample of clients discharged from treatment, in order to enable policy makers and the public to assess more accurately the national effects of treatment programs. In constructing a national probability sample of treatment outcomes stratified by the major modalities of drug treatment, the Services Research Outcomes Study (SROS) provides the first nationally representative look at: (1) baseline on a 1990 cohort of patients against which to compare improvements in the national treatment system during the 1990s (i.e., block grant expansion, large-scale demonstration grants, and other efforts at treatment improvement; (2) a before-to-after treatment comparison to address the question "Does treatment work?"; (3) follow-up of clients at five years after discharge from the SROS index episode; and (4) an examination of repeated treatment both before and after the indexed episode.

Detailed descriptions of the history of the facility universe and facility and client samples are presented in Tables 2-1 and 2-2 in Chapter II. In April 1990, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) listing of all known drug and alcohol treatment facilities, consisting of 10,649 facilities, served as the universe for the Drug Services Research Survey (DSRS). DSRS sampled 1,803 facilities for its DSRS Phase I survey of facilities; 1,183 facilities responded, comprising 138 hospital inpatient facilities, 185 residential facilities, 80 outpatient detoxification/maintenance facilities, 372 outpatient drug-free facilities, 91 alcohol-only facilities, and 317 facilities whose facility type was unknown. Since DSRS’ focus was on drug treatment, the alcohol-only facilities and those of unknown type were excluded from the DSRS Phase II facility sampling frame. DSRS II sampled 146 facilities from the DSRS I respondents and abstracted 2,222 client records from 120 facilities.

Five years after DSRS, SROS recontacted the 120 DSRS facilities, and 99 of these facilities are part of SROS, including a few facilities that had closed or merged but whose records were available. Cooperation of the facilities in SROS was crucial, as the DSRS sampling list of discharged clients was retained by each facility. Only through facility cooperation was the project team able to contact clients in the sample and request their participation in SROS.

The five-year followup was sought for 1,706 of the original client sample plus a supplemental sample of 1,341 clients added in SROS, totaling 3,047 clients who had been discharged from 99 drug treatment facilities in the 12 months ending August 31, 1990. Clients had been selected from facilities whose predominant type was inpatient, residential, outpatient detoxification, and outpatient drug free. For the five-year followup, 2,489 clients (82 percent) in the sample were located in 1995 and 1996; the remaining 558 clients (18 percent) were not located before time and resources for fieldwork expired. Nine percent (277 clients) had died between discharge from drug treatment and time for SROS interview. Less than one percent (14 clients) were ineligible for the study after screening, and a total of 1,799 were interviewed.

This page was last updated on June 03, 2008.

SAMHSA, an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, is the Federal Government's lead agency for improving the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment, and mental health services in the United States.