Blattler Et Al Describe Flashcards
What was the aim of the study?
To investigate the success of giving maintenance doses of heroin to heroin users who also use cocaine, in order to see the effects of the heroin maintenance programme on their cocaine use.
How many patients were in the sample?
266
How many of the sample were male?
168
How many of the sample were female?
98
How long did the sample have to be addicted to heroin for?
18 months or more
How old were the sample?
Atleast 20 with a mean age of 30
How many attempts did the sample have to make to treat their addiction previously to the study?
At least two previous unsuccessful attempts
Had the sample given informed consent?
Yes
What year was this study?
2002
Why were some potential participants excluded?
Some were excluded if they were found dealing drugs in the treatment centre, selling prescribed medication or using violent behaviour.
What setting was used?
A naturalistic setting
How long was the treatment programme.
At least 18 months
How many clinics were followed and where?
6 different clinics in Switzerland.
What were the heroin users given?
The participants were given maintenance doses of narcotics (and all received heroin though some received methadone)
How much heroin was supplied?
The mean dosage of heroin supplied was 479mg daily and this was self injected under supervision.
How often did patients attend the clinics?
2 or 3 times a day.
When were participants interviewed?
They were interviewed at intake and every six months, which provided an initial and ongoing, self-report of cocaine use.
How were interviews used?
Interviews were conducted by independent interviewers using a standardised questionnaire and consisted of questions about drug use and symptoms.
What other tests were conducted?
Urine tests for drug use were conducted on entry to the programme and randomly, without warning approximately every other month. They were also tested regularly for hepatitis and HIV.
What therapy were particpants required to attend?
Participants were also required to attend psychosocial therapy, such as counselling and to receive health care.
What percentage of participants reported taking cocaine in the 6 months prior to intake?
84%
What results were taken by the end of the study about cocaine use?
By the end of the study, the number of cocaine users taking cocaine on a daily basis had dropped by more than 80%, and the number of non users had almost trebled.
By what percentage had the number of cocaine users taking cocaine on a daily basis dropped by?
80%
What factor allowed the experimenter to give validity to his findings?
The fact that the price of cocaine had remained stable during the study.
How many participants had this not worked for?
15 participants had increased the amount of cocaine they used.
What was the correlation between self-reported cocaine use and level found by urine samples at the beginning and end of the study?
0.66 at the beginning and by the end was 0.82 which shows that the addicts had become more honest as the programme progressed
What else dropped in numbers in the results?
The amount of addicts working in the sex trade dropped dramaticlly
CONCLUSION What was concluded?
It was concluded that heroin maintenance in a high monitoring situation does help to reduce cocaine use.
CONCLUSION how did the programme help?
The programme helped many addicts reduce their cocaine use and for some to completely stop taking cocaine.
CONCLUSION what was also concluded about illegal behaviours.
It was also concluded that as cocaine use went down so did contact with the drug scene, sex industry and illegal income.
