COSIG CONFERENCE BROCHURE.pdf - Drexel University College ...

COSIG Co-Occurring Disorders Conference, Hershey PA, May 15-17, 2006
Discharge Plans and Aftercare
• Encourage A.A., Pills Anonymous ageappropriate
support groups.
• Tell about services among the community
• Ongoing medical monitoring
• Involvement of case-manager to ensure
services are provided.
Specialized Treatment for
Prescription Drug Abuse
• Since this type of abuse stems from
unintentional misuse, issues that need to
be addressed include: Misconceptions
about drugs, inability to manage the
medications (too complex/memory
impairments), and intentional misuse to
obtain results other than for those
prescribed (sleep).
Outcomes and Cost Issues
• Addresses alcohol treatment costs only because
there are no outcome studies of prescription
drug use among the older adults.
• Studies showed that age-specific programming
improved treatment completion and resulted in
higher rates of attendance at meetings.
• Also, older alcoholics were more likely than
younger adults to complete treatment.
• For older patients, the number of days abstinent
was higher and those treated with a focus on
self-efficacy had fewest heavy drinking days
Problem with Outcome Studies
• Have bias and provide no information on
treatment drop-outs or on short/long term
outcomes for treatment.
• Exclusion of women in studies.
• Use unstructured techniques for assessing
drinking patterns.
Measurement of Multidimensional
Outcomes
• Consumption levels, drinking patterns,
alcohol-related problems, physical and
emotional health, and quality of life can be
used to assess treatment outcomes.
• Initial evaluation should take place at the
beginning of the treatment to obtain
baseline data.
• The first follow-up evaluations should be
conducted after 2 weeks to 1 month.
Measures of Alcohol Use
• Drinking patterns can be assessed using
approximations like the average number of
drinks per week or the average number of
drinks per occasion.
• Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test
(AUDIT) and the Health Screening Survey
(HSS).
• Most accurate is the Time Line Follow
Back Procedure (TLFB).
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