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Frank S. Pearson, PhD and Homeless Families Substance Abuse Working Group. National Development and Research Institutes, Inc., 71 West 23rd Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10010, (212) 845-4548, frank.pearson@ndri.org
The SAMHSA Homeless Families Initiative for homeless mothers and their dependent children includes eight projects that, taken together, study a variety of programs that provide a range of services (mainly to the mothers). This presentation reports on the extent of the women’s involvement with abuse of alcohol and/or illicit drugs across the eight sites. Substance abuse by these mothers prior to entering treatment varies greatly from program to program, with fairly low percentages of substance abusers in some programs to all of the mothers in the residential substance abuse treatment programs. These substance abuse problems may play an important role in the women’s housing problems and may also play a role in other problems that some of these women have experienced (such as emotional/mental health problems). The types and severity of substance use before entering the programs are described, as are the types and severity of substance use after the clients entered these multi-faceted programs. The discussion will focus on the extent to which reductions in substance abuse from pre-treatment levels to levels after entering treatment, can be attributed to the impact of the interventions offered, given the roles of other factors such as characteristics of the clients, the program environments, and the methods of research used.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.