Expanding Capacity in Alberta to Deliver Contingency Patient Management in Outpatient Addiction Treatment: A Randomized Clinical Trial for Methamphetamine Use

Detailed Summary

Methamphetamine misuse has become a growing concern in Alberta, creating a burden on the health care system. Further, individuals who use methamphetamine in Alberta exhibit significant difficulty remaining in treatment. These troubling patterns necessitate the provision of evidence-based practices (EBPs)-those grounded in empirical evidence-to ensure the best possible care and outcomes for those struggling with this addiction. Within the field of substance use (SU), contingency management (CM) is an extensively studied evidence-based treatment (EBT) for addictive disorders. CM is an intervention that provides incentives to encourage positive behavioural change. Compared to standard care (treatment-as-usual (TAU)), CM has resulted in improvements in abstinence, attendance, adherence, retention, and quality of life. The efficacy of CM has largely been investigated in the context of reinforcing abstinence, though the literature suggests that CM which reinforces attendance may be as effective. Research from the US has examined the cost-effectiveness of CM and found that although CM costs more, it was associated with greater abstinence, treatment completion, and substance-absent urine compared to TAU. Despite the promising literature, the uptake of CM in Canada is limited making it difficult to understand whether this EBT is equally efficacious as compared to the US. This study will implement and evaluate the efficacy of virtually delivered attendance-based CM in outpatient addiction treatment in Alberta. Participants (N=544) will be individuals seeking treatment for methamphetamine use (n=304) and individuals seeking treatment for substance use issues other than methamphetamine use (n=240). It is hypothesized that compared to participants in TAU, participants in CM will evidence: (1) greater retention, (2) greater attendance, (3) greater abstinence from methamphetamine and less methamphetamine use, (4) greater abstinence from other SU and less SU, and (5) greater improvement in quality of life over the intervention and follow-up periods. Exploratory aims include understanding how: outcomes differ based remote versus in-person delivery of CM; outcomes differ between participants who use methamphetamine and participants who use substances other than methamphetamine; the costs of CM differ from TAU; CM changes health service use.

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