Impact of Certain Client Characteristics

Several studies have attempted to analyze how better to meet the needs of particular subsets of the substance abusing population. By better understanding the characteristics of the population entering treatment, clinics will be able to craft admission procedures that better serve their clients.

Kail and Elberth (2002) conducted a survey of substance abusing Latina women to determine ways to enhance treatment engagement. With regard to intake and assessment, they found that having an intake counselor with an understanding of the Latina culture was important. Latina women in this sample expressed a “permanent sense of shame at having violated the expectations of a ‘proper woman’”. Compared to other groups, this population was very sensitive to the notion that they were being judged during intake. They indicated that checking for drugs and verification of information were perceived as a lack of trust. The authors suggest intake information being obtained over several sessions, allowing intake coordinators to build up trust and develop a personal relationship with the client. However, we could find no articles that provided empirical evidence that adopting these measures would favorably impact treatment access of retention.

The role of gender in treatment entry is another area which has received attention. There have been several studies looking at the characteristics of women seeking substance abuse treatment (Arfken et al, 2003). Although this is an important issue as women usually present to intake and assessment with a greater severity of substance abuse and are less likely to enter treatment as men (Alberga et al, 2003), there is no research which directly addresses the effects of a streamlined admission process on female treatment entry.