A comparative study of cocaine-treatment completers and dropouts.

This study compared matched groups of completers and dropouts from residential treatment for cocaine abuse on a range of outcome measures, including cocaine and alcohol use, stress, coping, and social support characteristics. The most striking finding of this study was that treatment dropouts differed from treatment completers on only 2 of 14 dependent measures reflecting substance use, stress, coping, and social support characteristics during two 3-month follow-up periods. Both dropouts and completers demonstrated large decreases in cocaine and alcohol use from pretreatment to the first follow-up period. Completers and dropouts did not differ in level of substance use during either follow-up period.