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Background: Service providers including doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals play an essential role in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). This study evaluated the impact of an intervention targeting MMT providers on their clients' treatment retention.Methods: This study was conducted in 68 MMT clinics in five provinces of China with 36 clients randomly selected from each clinic. The clinics were randomized to intervention or control condition. The MMT CARE intervention started with group sessions to enhance providers' communication skills. The trained providers were encouraged to conduct individual sessions with clients to promote treatment engagement. The outcomes, which include client retention (main outcome) and their reception of provider-delivered individual sessions (process outcome), were measured over a 24-month period.Results: Significantly fewer intervention clients dropped out from MMT than control clients during the study period (31% vs. 41%; p < 0.0001). Dropout hazard was significantly lower in the intervention condition compared to the control condition (HR = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.57, 0.89). More intervention clients had individual sessions than control clients (93% vs. 70%; p < 0.0001). Having individual sessions was associated with a significantly lower dropout hazard (HR = 0.30, 95% CI: 0.23, 0.40). The intervention clients had a significantly lower dropout hazard than the control clients if they started the individual sessions during the first six months (HR = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.51, 0.90).Conclusions: The MMT CARE intervention focusing on provider capacity building has demonstrated efficacy in reducing clients' treatment dropout. This study sheds light on MMT service improvement in China and other global community-based harm reduction programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Client language is hypothesized to be a mechanism of action in motivational interviewing (MI). Despite the association of change and sustain talk with substance treatment outcomes, it not known whether providers can intentionally influence this language as hypothesized.Objective: This is a randomized controlled trial to investigate whether substance use providers can be trained to influence client language.Methods: Treatment providers specializing in substance use disorders (n=190) were randomly assigned to standard training in MI (MI-AU) or training emphasizing an influence of client language (MI-LEAF). Treatment sessions with actual clients were evaluated 3, 6 and 12 months after training by masked raters. Frequencies of client change and sustain talk were the outcome variables.Results: Sustain talk, but not change talk, was significantly lower in clients whose providers had received the specialized training (b=-0.175, SE=0.087, p=0.046, CI[-0.348 to 0.002], d=-0.325). Mediation analyses supported a causal chain between a) training, b) providers' attempts to minimize sustain talk in treatment sessions via directive reflective listening and c) client sustain talk in the treatment session (κ2=0.0833, bootstrap SE=0.0394, 95% CI [0.0148, 0.1691]).Conclusions: With specialized training, providers can reduce the amount of opposition language their clients offer when considering a change in their substance use. Demonstrating that client language is under partial control of the provider supports the feasibility of clinical trials to investigate the impact of shaping client language on treatment outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Few individuals hospitalized with Substance Use Disorder (SUD) complications participate in recovery support services after discharge. Peer recovery coaching represents one potential new method for promoting recovery.Methods: A six-month prospective randomized controlled trial compared outcomes between the standard of care and a physician-initiated recovery coaching intervention. The primary outcome measure was engagement in recovery support services, and the secondary outcome measures were substance use frequency and self-reported physical and mental health using the SF-12 survey. Participants (N = 98) were eligible if they were identified by a healthcare provider as having a SUD and were hospitalized due to SUD complications.Results: Engagement rate over the six-month post-discharge time period was higher for participants in the recovery coaching intervention (84 %, 95 % CI: 78%-91%) compared to the standard of care control condition (34 %, 95 % CI: 25 %-44 %), log OR = 28.59, p < .001. No overall group differences in substance use frequency (p = .80), self-reported physical (p = .69) or mental (p = .89) health were observed.Conclusion: An inpatient linkage to recovery coaching services improves engagement rates and can feasibly be implemented in a single-center inpatient service. This intervention is promising for promoting both short-term and long-term engagement in recovery support services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]