Patient Satisfaction and Sustained Outcomes of Drug Abuse Treatment

The authors investigated the relationship between patients' self-rated satisfaction with treatment services during and shortly after treatment with their drug use outcomes at one year follow-up, using a US national panel survey of patients in 62 methadone, outpatient, short-term residential, and long-term residential programs. A favorable evaluation of treatment near the time of discharge had a significant positive relationship with drug use improvement outcomes approximately one year later, independent of the separately measured effects of treatment duration, counseling intensity, patient adherence to treatment protocols, pre-treatment drug use patterns, and other characteristics of patients and treatment programs.