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Aims: Methamphetamine Use Disorder is prevalent in South Africa. This analysis uses data from a contingency management (CM) pilot study in South Africa to replicate and expand on a U.S.-based study showing that CM voucher spending was associated with drug abstinence behavior.Design: Participants with methamphetamine-use disorder were enrolled in an 8-week CM trial requiring thrice weekly visits and received cash vouchers in exchange for stimulant-negative urines at each visit.Participants: Participants were 33 treatment-seeking individuals with methamphetamine use disorder including 22 men (66.7%) and 11 women (33.3%) with a mean age of 34 years (S.D. = 7.7). Participants reported using methamphetamine for a mean of 11.7 years (S.D. = 4.9).Setting: All study procedures took place in South Africa between August 2016 and May 2018.Measurements: A time-lagged counting process Cox Proportional Hazards model for recurrent event survival analysis examined the relationship between frequency of and participant-categorized type of CM expenditures (hedonic, utilitarian, consumable or durable) and drug abstinence.Findings: After controlling for severity of baseline methamphetamine use and accumulated CM earnings (proxied by cumulative negative urines), those spending CM earnings at a previous visit ("spenders") were more likely to produce stimulant-negative urine samples subsequently, compared to those who did not ("savers") [OR = 1.23, CI = 1.08-1.53, p = .002]. There were significantly more cumulative stimulant-negative results among spenders vs. savers, p < .001, although cumulative spending did not significantly predict abstinence once spending in the prior time period was controlled for, suggesting a recency effect tied to the underlying spending mechanism. When extending the original analyses to look at the effect of spending on current abstinence, controlling only for recent abstinence (rather than cumulative abstinence), spending was no longer a significant predictor. Spending type did not affect methamphetamine abstinence. Qualitative results suggest spending CM vouchers may support social reintegration over the course of the trial.Conclusions: Abstinence outcomes are a function of CM spending in both the U.S. and South Africa. Findings of a significant relationship between contingency management spending and subsequent stimulant-negative urine samples across geographic locations provide guidance toward future work in optimizing CM efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction and Aims: As South Africa, especially the Western Cape Province, faces an epidemic of methamphetamine use disorder, therapeutic approaches suited to the South African context are needed. This secondary analysis assessed retention and methamphetamine abstinence outcomes in response to an 8-week pilot contingency management (CM) intervention trial of neural correlates of methamphetamine abstinence, exploring sociodemographic and clinical differences between responders and non-responders.Design and Methods: Research participants provided thrice-weekly monitored urine samples, which were analysed by qualitative radioimmunoassay. The primary outcome for this analysis was therapeutic response, defined as abstinence from methamphetamine (≥23 of 24 possible methamphetamine-negative urine samples).Results: Data from 30 adults living in Cape Town, South Africa (34 ± 6.1 years of age, mean age ± SD, 21 men) were included. Sixty-three percent (12 men) were responders. In bivariate comparisons, baseline measurements showed fewer responders reported monthly household income ≥25 000+ South African Rand (ZAR; ~USD $1880; vs. ZAR < 25 000) than non-responders (15.8% vs. 63.6%; P = 0.007). Furthermore, responders had higher median years of education (12 vs. 10; Kruskal-Wallis χ2 = 4.25, DF = 1, P = 0.039) and lower median body mass index than non-responders (19 vs. 24; Kruskal-Wallis χ2 = 6.84, P = 0.008).Discussion and Conclusions: Therapeutic response in this study were comparable to those obtained with CM for methamphetamine use disorder in North America and Europe. Our findings suggest that CM may be a useful component of treatment strategies to boost retention and continuous abstinence from methamphetamine in Cape Town, South Africa. Larger efficacy studies are needed in this setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]