June 14, 2007

Facilities Offering Special Treatment Programs or Groups: 2005

Substance abuse treatment facilities may offer special treatment programs or groups to address the specific needs of clients such as adolescents or seniors. Data on these special programs and groups are reported to the National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services (N-SSATS), an annual survey of all known facilities in the United States, both public and private, that provide substance abuse treatment.

N-SSATS captures information about whether facilities offer special programs for adolescents, clients with co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders, criminal justice clients, persons with HIV or AIDS, gays or lesbians, pregnant or postpartum women, adult women, adult men, seniors or older adults, and persons arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs (DUI) or driving while intoxicated (DWI). This report will examine the characteristics of facilities with and without one or more such special programs or groups.

A total of 13,371 substance abuse treatment facilities responded to the 2005 N-SSATS, and 83 percent of them offered at least one special program or group addressing particular needs of specific client types. The 11,113 facilities with special programs or groups served 88 percent of all clients in substance abuse treatment facilities.

In 2005, the most commonly offered special program or group was for persons with co-occurring mental and substance abuse disorders (38 percent) (Table 1). Around one third of facilities offered special programs or groups for adult women, adolescents, or DUI/DWI offenders (33, 32, and 31 percent, respectively). The least commonly offered special programs or groups were for gays/lesbians (6 percent) and seniors or older adults (7 percent).

The largest facilities (120 clients or more) were more likely than the smallest facilities (fewer than 15 clients) to offer one or more special programs or groups.¹ Eighty-eight percent of the largest facilities in 2005 had at least one special program or group while 72 percent of the smallest facilities had at least one (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Percentage of Facilities Offering Special Programs or Groups, by Size of Facility*: 2005

The most frequently reported special programs or groups varied by the type of care—hospital inpatient, outpatient, and non-hospital residential²—offered by the facility. However, special programs or groups for persons with co-occurring mental and substance abuse disorders and for adult women were consistently among the most frequently reported in all three types of care.

In 2005, facilities providing hospital inpatient care were more than twice as likely to offer special programs or groups for persons with co-occurring mental and substance abuse disorders (56 percent) than for any other group (Figure 2). The next two most common special programs or groups offered by hospital inpatient facilities were for adult women and for adolescents (26 percent each).

Figure 2. Four Most Frequently Offered Special Programs or Groups, by Type of Care: 2005

Facilities providing outpatient care were most likely to offer special programs or groups for DUI/DWI offenders and for persons with co-occurring mental and substance abuse disorders (38 percent each); adolescents and adult women were the next most frequently offered special programs (36 and 33 percent, respectively).

Facilities providing non-hospital residential care were about equally likely to offer special programs or groups for persons with co-occurring mental and substance abuse disorders (38 percent), adult women (37 percent), and adult men (36 percent).

In 2005, facilities whose primary focus was on substance abuse treatment services or on a mix of substance abuse and mental health treatment services were more likely than other facilities (i.e., those with a focus on general health care or mental health services) to offer one or more special programs or groups. Eighty-seven percent of facilities with a mixed focus on substance abuse and mental health treatment services and 83 percent of those with a primary focus on substance abuse treatment services offered one or more special programs or groups. By contrast, 63 percent of facilities focusing on general health care and 72 percent of those focusing on mental health services offered one or more special programs or groups.

In 2005, whether a substance abuse treatment facility was operated by a private non-profit, private for-profit, or government entity (i.e., State, local, tribal, or Federal) did not affect the likelihood of offering special programs or groups. About 83 percent of each of these types of facilities offered one or more special programs or groups.

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.