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This article evaluates the effectiveness of illicit drug use treatment programs. The authors, examining changes in clients who received treatment, maintain clients who abused drugs demonstrated reduced drug use, whereas alcoholics did not reduce their drinking intake, however, psychological and health problems were reduced among both groups.

Objective: This pilot study evaluated the effect of the Connecting People Intervention (CPI) on access to social capital, social inclusion, and mental well-being. Method: A prospective one-group pretest – posttest preexperimental study of 155 people with a mental health problem or a learning disability receiving care and support from health and social care practitioners trained in the CPI was used. Results: Participants exposed to practice with high fidelity to the CPI model had significantly higher access to social capital (p =.03, partial η2 =.05) and perceived social inclusion (p =.01, partial η2 =.07), and lower service costs (−£1,331, 95% confidence interval = [−£69, −£2593]), posttest than those exposed to low fidelity to the model. All participants had significantly higher mental well-being posttest (p <.001). Conclusions: These preliminary results suggest that when fully implemented, the CPI can improve social outcomes for people with a mental health problem or learning disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Personal budgets are a key policy priority in adult social care in England and are expected to become increasingly important in the care of adults with mental health problems. Aims: This article systematically reviews evidence for the effectiveness of personal budgets for people with mental health problems across diverse outcomes. Methods: The review, conducted in 2013, used the EPPI-Centre methodology for conducting a systematic review informed by Social Care Institute for Excellence guidelines. Data were extracted from studies and combined using meta-synthesis. Results: Fifteen studies were included in the review which found mostly positive outcomes in terms of choice and control, quality of life, service use and cost-effectiveness. However, methodological limitations make these findings rather unreliable and insufficient to inform personal budgets policy and practice for mental health service users. Conclusions: Further high quality studies are required to inform policy and practice for mental health service users, which lags behind other adult social care groups in the use of personal budgets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims. To investigate regional variations across England in routes of administration for heroin, nonprescribed methadone, non-prescribed benzodiazepines, cocaine powder, crack cocaine and amphetamines. Design, setting, participants. A survey of 1053 clients recruited to 54 residential and community drug misuse programmes. Measurements. Structured face-to-face interviews conducted with clients at admission to treatment. Findings. Routes of administration included injecting, smoking, snorting and oral use. For some drugs (methadone and benzodiazepines) one main route of administration was used. For other drugs (heroin, amphetamines and cocaine powder) there were marked variations in route. For all drugs except benzodiazepines, there were regional differences in routes of administration. Heroin injectors were more likely also to use other drugs by injection. Conclusions. The differences in routes of administration of different drugs, and the regional differences in routes of use, have implications for the provision of preventive and treatment services. Interventions to prevent transitions to injecting may be especially appropriate in areas where injecting is not prevalent. Hepatitis B vaccination continues to be advisable in both areas of high and low injecting prevalence. Needle exchange schemes and interventions targeted at drug overdose may be more suitable in areas of high injecting prevalence. Further research into regional differences in routes of drug use should be conducted with non-clinical samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]