| dc.description.abstract | The Northwestern Ontario Concurrent Disorders Program (NOCDP) offers a
multidisciplinary, assertive community treatment approach to clients with
concurrent disorders, substance dependence and co-morbid severe and persistent
Axis I and/or Axis II disorder. Substance use in a psychiatric population lessens
the effectiveness of treatment, increases the symptom severity of the mental
illness, and leads to less successful treatment outcomes. Accordingly, these
individuals need programming tailored specifically to their psychopathology,
substance(s) of choice, and social supports. The present research examines the
population that NOCDP serves, and the effectiveness of its programming. Client
symptom reporting, reported impact of substance use, number of hospitalizations,
legal activity, residential status, education/employment activity and income level
are used as measures of treatment success. While improvements within groups
were indicated on some measures, significant differences between groups were
not found. Level of functioning of NOCDP clients did improve over time, but
interpretation of the data was complicated by design limitations related to the
naturalistic nature of the study. | |
