Substance user’s social connections: Family, friends, and the foresaken
"How clients change their social connections after treatment is a strong indicator of substance-abuse outcomes one year and three years later," said Robert L. Stout, Ph.D., senior scientist and center director of the Decision Sciences Institute at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. "[We were interested in] why clients make good versus poor social choices." Stout will present his research at the 39th Annual Research Society on Alcoholism in New Orleans June 25-29, 2016. "While clinicians have long urged clients to avoid 'bad' social contacts and foster 'good' ones, many relationships mix 'bad' and 'good' elements, and helpful connections may be lost at a time when they could be most useful," said Stout. "Clinicians lack specific guidance to target their therapeutic interventions to maximize impact on outcome. This study is designed to begin to provide the foundations for such guidance." The pre...