Motivational enhancement therapy for African American substance users: A randomized clinical trial.

Limited empirical evidence concerning the efficacy of substance abuse treatments among African Americans reduces opportunities to evaluate and improve program efficacy. The current study, conducted as a secondary analysis of protocol CTN-0004 (“Motivational Enhancement Treatment to Improve Treatment Engagement and Outcome in Subjects Seeking Treatment for Substance Abuse”), addressed this knowledge gap by examining the efficacy of motivational enhancement therapy (MET) compared with counseling as usual (CAU) among 194 African American adults seeking outpatient substance abuse treatment at 5 participating sites. The findings revealed higher retention rates among women in MET than in CAU during the initial 12 weeks of the 16-week study. Men in MET and CAU did not differ in retention. However, MET participants self-reported more drug-using days per week than participants in CAU.

Conclusions: The results from this study reveal that MET may improve retention among African American women. This study highlights the significance of examining the efficacy of MI/MET as an adjunct to other evidence-based treatments, such as CBT, for African Americans. Implications for future substance abuse treatment research with this population group are discussed.

Related protocols: CTN-0004