Description

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 to clients for drug-free urines resulted in sustained periods of abstinence and retention in treatment. The initial study in Community Treatment Programs will utilize incentive values considerably lower than those typically used in research clinics.