NIATx has identified nine pathways for significantly improving access to and retention in addiction treatment. They include outreach, first contact, intake and assessment, levels of care, paperwork, scheduling, therapeutic engagement, social support system and maximizing revenue sources. At a meeting of experts in these areas from inside and outside the addiction treatment field, a number of practices were identified and prioritized that held promise for improving these pathways. A study is needed to explore that research and document what it has to offer in the form of strong empirical evidence.

The review focused on gathering empirical evidence to support the nine paths defined by the Network for Addiction Treatment Recovery. After reviewing the literature available on the NIATx website, we were able to determine several key words and terms that helped define our initial search. Using several different online databases and article indexes, we were able to gather a core group of literature which supported the Pathways to Recovery’s claims. There articles’ references were then reviewed for relevant literature. We were also able to determine which literature had cited our core group of articles. This literature was also reviewed for relevance. When relevant literature was not available we made recommendations for future research.

We used a broad search strategy, covering several separate electronic databases, including, Psycinfo, Pubmed and Proquest. Most of the articles we were able to acquire online from The University of California Melvyl Catalog, which contains records for materials kept by the libraries of the nine University of California campuses, Hastings College of the Law, the California Academy of Sciences, the California Historical Society, the Center for Research Libraries, the Graduate Theological Union, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The database contains over 23,000,000 records. Also, seeking advice from experts in the field, the NIATx website and information received from Fran Cotter, M.A.,M.P.H., enhanced our search tremendously.

This report is a final draft submitted on December 15, 2004.