Adaptation of the Patient Feedback Survey at a community treatment setting.

The Patient Feedback Survey, developed and evaluated in National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network protocol CTN-0016, is a performance improvement measure designed to assess the quality of outpatient substance abuse treatment. In this study, researchers modified and administered this measure to 500 individuals at AdCare Hospital, one of the New England Consortium Node’s community treatment providers (CTPs). Although the feedback scores were high in general, analyses of variance showed score variability in relation to type and length of treatment. Moreover, respondents who reported any use of marijuana, cravings for substances, or mutual-support group attendance (i.e., Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous) had lower feedback scores than respondents without these experiences.

Conclusions: The results of the PFS study show that patients seeking outpatient services at a multisite community treatment program report positive evaluations of their treatment sessions. These findings are similar to the results of the original CTN study. The modified PFS appears to be an efficient measure that has the potential to gain broader applicability. This article highlights the importance of investigating treatment evaluations in the context of other recovery experiences.

Related protocols: CTN-0016