Comparison of completers and dropouts in psychological treatment for cocaine addiction

This study investigated the characteristics associated with treatment dropout in cocaine-dependent patients. A sample of 102 cocaine-addicted patients (89 male and 13 female) was assessed at entry to a therapeutic programme in order to collect information on socio-demographic, psychopathological (assessed by SCL-90-R), personality (assessed by MCMI-II), legal and consumption variables (assessed by EuropAsi). The rate of patients who dropped out of the intervention programme was 30.4% (N=31) of the sample. Dropouts and completers were compared on all studied variables. According to the results obtained, dropouts showed a significantly higher score on the EuropAsi variables related to alcohol consumption, family problems and need for psychological treatment, as well as on the histrionic and antisocial scales of the MCMI-II. Moreover, all patients with histrionic personality disorder dropped out of the treatment. On the other hand, completers showed a significantly higher score on the compulsive scale of the MCMI-II. The implications of these results for further research and clinical practice are commented upon.This study was supported by a grant (code 2/2006) from the Health Department of the Navarre Government (Spain)