Effects of residence in Alzheimer disease special care units on functional outcomes.

Context: Alzheimer disease special care units (SCUs) in nursing homes are increasingly prevalent, but little is known about their effects on residents' outcomes.

Objective: To analyze the effect of SCU residence on the rates at which residents decline in functional status.

Design: A cohort of nursing home residents assessed at multiple points during about 1 year.

Measuring program performance in methadone treatment using in-treatment outcomes: an illustration.

Quality measurement and quality assurance in substance abuse treatment have, over the past few years, become a major policy issue. In addition, there is interest in the degree to which client outcomes can play a role in measuring treatment program performance. This article discusses the movement toward outcome-based performance measurement in substance abuse treatment.

Relationship between drug preference and indicators of psychiatric impairment.

This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between the indicators of psychiatric disorders of individuals and their choice of either cocaine or heroin, drugs that differ markedly in their pharmacological effects. Cocaine acts as an intense stimulant, and heroin has profound sedative effects. This investigation examined the relationship between preference for heroin or cocaine and indicators of psychiatric impairment.

Treatment services in two national studies of community-based drug abuse treatment programs.

Findings from a number of sources over the past decade have documented a decline in the resources available for drug abuse treatment and the services being provided to clients in community-based drug abuse treatment programs. We compared client reports of services received and unmet service needs in a national crossmodality sample of clients in two studies of drug abuse treatment: the Treatment Outcome Prospective Study (TOPS), 1979-1981, and the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study (DATOS), 1991-1993. Findings showed a marked decrease over the past decade in the number and variety of services clients reported receiving.