NCJ Number
197270
Journal
Science & Practice Perspectives Volume: 1 Issue: 1 Dated: July 2002 Pages: 49-53
Date Published
July 2002
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the effectiveness of the MET interview technique as a motivational tool to keeping substance-abusing parents in a drug treatment program.
Abstract
The authors begin this article by discussing the problem of substance-abusing parents. In 1997, the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF) reported an increase in child abuse and neglect due to substance abuse by a primary caregiver. However, only about one-third of caregivers who were recommended for substance abuse treatment actually began treatment. In response, the DCF, Advanced Behavioral Health (ABH), and a network of Connecticut substance abuse treatment providers called Genesis Center banded together to study the effectiveness of using MET interview techniques to convince substance abusing parents to return for drug treatment. MET techniques are designed to increase the client’s motivation to change his or her behavior. The main techniques involve allowing resistance, avoiding arguments, and allowing clients to be ambivalent. The study took place between March and June 1999 at Genesis Center. Sixty people who had been referred for drug treatment were randomly assigned to either the standard interview at in-take or the MET-enhanced interview. Results revealed that 59 percent of the participants who received the MET-enhanced interview returned for at least one treatment session at the Genesis Center. Of those receiving the standard interview, only 29 percent returned to Genesis Center to begin treatment. The author concludes by presenting excerpts from the research team on their impressions of the study and the effectiveness of the MET interview techniques.