Lesson learned on treating racial/ethnic minority substance abusers.

This poster provides an overview of four CTN secondary studies that examined treatment outcomes for clients of racial/ethnic minorities. Three of the studies focused on Motivational Enhancement Therapy (CTN-0004) and African Americans, finding that African American males receiving MET reported using more drugs than those receiving usual care, while African American females in MET had higher retention in MET. The studies also found that treatment readiness had an impact on whether or not MET was effective for African Americans, with those with higher readiness responding well to MET, and those with lower readiness responding better to treatment as usual. Another study profiled examined Hispanic national group differences in substance use and treatment outcomes, analyzing data from the CTN MET trial again, but this time looking specifically at different Hispanic ethnic groups: Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans, and other Hispanic Americans. This study found all groups had similar substance use outcomes, but Puerto Ricans and particularly Cuban Americans had lower treatment retention. The final study profile looked at racial/ethnic match and treatment outcomes for women with PTSD and substance use disorders (as part of CTN-0015). That paper found that women who were light substance users and who were racially/ethnically matched with their group therapist were less likely to use substances heavily at follow-up than those who were mismatched racially/ethnically with their therapists.

Related protocols: CTN-0004, CTN-0015