Advances in Family-based Therapy for Adolescent Substance Abuse

These results suggest that therapeutic community treatment for adolescent substance abusers is associated with greater reductions in subsequent drug use, drug use problems, and some psychological distress than are found among comparable youths who receive residential interventions of similar duration and intensity, but without intensive substance abuse treatment services. Becausc this study used a quasi-experimental design, rather than random assignment to treatment condition, we cannot unequivocally attribute the observed differences in treatment outcomes to the treatment programs themselves. Unmeasured group differences might explain differences in outcomes better than treatment effects. Nevertheless, because this study employed a seemingly successful case-mix adjustment strategy, it offers a more rigorous examination of treatment effects than has been the norm in evaluations of community-based treatments for adolescents.