Retention in Psychosocial Services Knowledge Item 13: Results from HRSA/HAB's SPNS Innovative Models of Care

Knowledge Item: CA-Retention in Psychosocial Services-13
Time In Program Until Initiating Substance Abuse Services

Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to study the time between program enrollment and the receipt of the first episode of Substance Abuse Services (substance abuse treatment/counseling, 12-step groups, and/or relapse prevention) for 2063 clients in ten programs. Combining data from ten programs, the mean estimated time until receiving Substance Abuse Services is 676.92 days (standard error = 20.83 days). The median time until receiving Substance Abuse Services is 124 days.

For 1080 clients who received these services, the median time until obtaining them was one day and the average time until receipt was 46.40 days (standard error = 4.30 days).

Note: This curve shows the time until a service is received. Since one would ideally wish to see every client who needs a service receive it, an ideal curve would very rapidly drop to 0 indicating that everybody who needed a service received it.

Note 2: The high percentage of clients who did not receive substance abuse services is a function of three factors: a) not all clients need substance abuse services; b) many substance abusers refuse substance abuse services; and c) substance abuse services are not available in all of these programs.

Knowledge Item Citation: Huba, G. J., Melchior, L. A., Panter, A. T., and the HRSA/HAB SPNS Cooperative Agreement Steering Committee (1998-2001). Knowledge Item: CA-Retention in Psychosocial Services-13 from HRSA/HAB's SPNS Cooperative Agreements on Innovative Models of Care, The Measurement Group Knowledge Base on HIV/AIDS Care, Online at www.TheMeasurementGroup.com.

Last Updated: March 25, 2005; data through June 15, 1999; analyses conducted December 1999.

Knowledge Base Citation: The Knowledge Base and this Knowledge Item were designed and authored by G. J. Huba, Ph.D.; in collaboration with Lisa A. Melchior, Ph.D.; A. T. Panter, Ph.D.; and the staff of The Measurement Group. Cite this work as "Huba, G. J., Melchior, L. A., and Panter, A. T. (1998 - 2001). The Measurement Group Knowledge Base on HIV/AIDS Care. On the World Wide Web: http://www.TheMeasurementGroup.com."

Questions or Comments: Contact The Measurement Group.

Use of Knowledge Base Information: Acceptable Uses and Limitations.

Collaborators from Participating Projects: Cooperative Agreement Steering Committee 1999.

Participating Projects: This Knowledge Base is based on the service delivery experiences of 27 Cooperative Agreement Projects on Innovative Models of HIV/AIDS Care. These projects and the Evaluation and Dissemination Center which produced this Knowledge Base were funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) as Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) between 1994 and 1999. Click the Model Programs button above for descriptions of the projects that contributed to this specific Knowledge Item, a list of key staff, and project grant numbers.

Why This Evaluation was Conducted: Editorial.

More Information: Design of this Knowledge Base.

Recommended Citation Format for Web Materials: American Psychological Association Publication Manual Section, Revised 2001.

Work on the Knowledge Base and the cross-cutting evaluation was supported in part by Grant Number 5 U90 HA 00030-05 from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), HIV/AIDS Bureau's (HAB) Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS). The contents of this Knowledge Base are solely the responsibility of The Measurement Group and do not necessarily represent the official views of HRSA or HRSA/HAB's Special Projects of National Significance nor may they represent the positions of the individual grantees whose projects are included in the cross-cutting evaluation.