141st APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

281167
How many treatment episodes are necessary for latinos to achieve their treatment goals?


Monday, November 4, 2013

Erick G. Guerrero, PhD, School of Social Work, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Survival Cox-regression was used to model time to treatment completion considering treatment episodes, as the main outcome of interest. Using multi-year (2006-2009) data, the analytic sample consisted of 52,799 clients from 276 treatment programs. Findings supported the role of homelessness and mental health status and their association with more episodes to complete treatment successfully. Results also showed that the rate of treatment completion was reduced by 41% among African Americans and by 17% among Latinos, compared to Whites. With each additional treatment episode, the rate of treatment completion dropped by 73% for all groups. But overall, Whites and males were more likely to complete treatment throughout their treatment career trajectories, compared to gender, racial and ethnic minority members. This study highlights disparities in treatment episodes for minorities, as well as their rate of successfully meeting their recovery goals. Implications for public health interventions to enhance treatment adherence are discussed.

Learning Areas:

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Diversity and culture
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines

Learning Objectives:
List three risk factors associated with Latinos disengaging from addiction treatment. Differentiate characteristics of treatment careers between Latinos and Whites. Discuss contextual factors that promote Latinos' recovery from addiction.

Keyword(s): Treatment Adherence, Latinos

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been the principal investigator in 5 studies on racial and ethnic disparities in addiction treatment resulting in ten publications in high-ranking peer reviewed journals. Among my scientific interests have been understanding Latinos response to treatment and the development of organizational strategies to increase treatment access and engagement to improve outcomes and reduce health disparities.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3411.0: Best practices in research, public health interventions, and services for vulnerable Latino populations