NCJ Number
185365
Journal
Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy Volume: 7 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2000 Pages: 163-178
Date Published
May 2000
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This study investigates methadone treatment and service delivery as a social process.
Abstract
The overwhelming focus of research into methadone treatment has been on outcome, concentrating on the importance of issues such as dose and treatment retention. Studies have also described delivery of counseling and support services, but research has yet to focus systematically on how such services are delivered and negotiated within the context of ongoing staff-client relationships. Using mainly client data derived from a 2-year ethnographic study of methadone treatment delivery in London, this study focuses on the processes influencing delivery of counseling and support services. A key finding is that the "sociality" of treatment was embedded within the negotiation and building of social roles and relationships more generally. This underscores the necessity of understanding the delivery of methadone treatment services, especially counseling and support, as a social interactional process and not merely as a medical encounter with a treatment outcome. The article claims that factors related to the sociality of methadone treatment delivery can have an impact on the length of a treatment episode and therefore client outcome. References