Appendix 4: Other Sources of National Treatment Data

I. The Drug Services Research Survey, 1990

The 1990 Drug Services Research Survey (DSRS) was designed to obtain information on drug abuse treatment providers and client characteristics to supplement information from the 1989 National Drug and Alcoholism Treatment Unit Survey (NDATUS). The survey consisted of two major components, a facility-based survey of 1,183 providers and a person-based survey of approximately 2,200 clients discharged from treatment.

In the first component, a nationally representative sample of 1,183 drug treatment programs in the current NDATUS universe was selected for telephone interview. Information sought included treatment modalities offered and clients served in each modality, services provided to special populations (e.g., IV drug users, pregnant females, etc.), and waiting list information.

In the second component, a subsample of 120 programs was selected for site visit to verify information collected in the telephone survey and to abstract patient-level information on characteristics of and services provided to a sample of 2,222 clients discharged during the prior year. This on-site data collection was designed to provide, for the first time in the last 10 years, representative client-level data. Client-level items which were abstracted include demographic characteristics, prior treatment history, drug use history, treatment characteristics including length of time in treatment and charges for treatment, and discharge status.

II. The Drug Abuse Treatment System Survey, 1988 and 1990

The Drug Abuse Treatment System Survey (DATSS) was a national sample survey of outpatient substance abuse treatment units, conducted in 1988 and 1990 by the Survey Research Center of the Institute of Social Research at the University of Michigan, and funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. In 1988, a sample of 670 units was drawn and 575 units participated. In 1990, units that participated in 1988 were contacted again in order to track changes over time. A new iteration is currently in the field.

Information sought included funding, licensing and accreditation, client evaluation and monitoring, collaboration and competition with other treatment organizations, recent programmatic changes, referral sources, staff, types of services delivered, treatment goals, and efforts to enhance quality of treatment.

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