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Social support may play an important role in helping drug users achieve abstinence; however these benefits may depend on the type of support experienced. In this prospective observational study, we examined the extent to which general and abstinence-specific support, both structural and functional, predicted opiate and cocaine abstinence in 128 opioid maintenance patients receiving either methadone or LAAM. A new multidimensional self-report instrument assessing abstinence-specific functional support was developed for the study. Previously validated measures were used to assess the remaining types of support. With baseline abstinence and other statistically important covariates adjusted, hierarchical logistic regression analyses demonstrated that the associations between social support at study baseline and biochemically confirmed abstinence 3 months later varied by type of support and by drug. Greater abstinence-specific structural support (operationalized as fewer drug users in the social network) and decreases in three types of negative abstinence-specific functional support (Complaints about Drug Use, Drug Exposure, and Demoralization) predicted cocaine, but not opiate abstinence. There were no effects for general support, whether structural or functional, on abstinence from either drug. Interventions that focus on modifying patients' abstinence-specific support may be helpful in reducing the high rates of cocaine use disorders in this population.

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Urine toxicology is the gold standard for estimating the prevalence of illicit drug use in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). The frequency of urine testing may be crucial for establishing accurate use rates. Infrequent testing may lead programs to undercount active drug users and to target interventions too narrowly. This study compared results from frequent testing (twice per week) versus less frequent testing of 166 patients at four MMT programs. As part of a research study, all patients were tested by research staff for opioid and cocaine use twice per week on a fixed schedule for 10 weeks. During the same period, the four MMT programs tested the patients according to their standard protocols, approximately weekly (one program) or every 3-4 weeks (three programs). The research tests identified approximately 50% more illicit opioid users and 70% more cocaine users than the less frequent program tests. Patients who were drug positive according to the research tests but drug negative according to the program tests tended to be infrequent users. The data suggest that standard urine testing practices in MMT programs may result in underestimates of the prevalence of opioid and cocaine use. More frequent testing, even for time-limited periods, should produce more accurate depictions of drug use prevalence and help indicate the direction of interventions.

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This prospective, observational study investigated factors predicting a lapse to heroin use in 74 heroin-abstinent methadone maintenance patients. After baseline data collection, participants were assessed twice per week for 7 weeks and again at 6 months after baseline. Proportional hazards regression and logistic regression were used to investigate the effects of study predictors on heroin use. A goal of absolute heroin abstinence consistently predicted a lower risk of a lapse, whereas marijuana use was associated with a greater risk. Stress variables were not predictive. The abstinence goal and stress results were consistent with the authors' previous studies of other drug treatment samples. This line of research suggests that factors influencing lapses are similar across drug treatment populations and the role of stress in precipitating relapse remains unresolved.

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We investigated traumatic events, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and psychiatric comorbidity in 450 men and women entering private, hospital-based treatments for cocaine dependence. Overall prevalence of event exposure was the same for women and men; however, women were approximately five times more likely than men to be diagnosed with lifetime and current PTSD. Women experienced more PTSD than men even when exposed to the same type of event. In most subjects with PTSD, onset of the disorder preceded onset of cocaine dependence. Subjects with PTSD were more likely than those without PTSD to have additional co-occurring mental disorders. Findings from this relatively affluent, privately treated sample suggest that PTSD and cocaine dependence are related, independent of patients' resources. They further indicate that the relationship between gender and PTSD is robust across patient populations. More complex examinations of PTSD, cocaine dependence, and gender are needed to better understand these relationships and to design effective interventions.

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In an extension of earlier work relating social-relationship variables to post-treatment abstinence from abused drugs, 104 cocaine users were studied for 6 months after completing drug treatment. Social-relationship variables included social integration, perceived support and social-network cocaine use. The effects of social relationships on cocaine abstinence tended to be conditional on race. Greater social integration predicted abstinence for Caucasian Ss (n = 54), but not African-Americans (n = 50). Similar results occurred for perceived support. Social network drug-use data also showed race differences: the absence of current cocaine users and the presence of former users predicted abstinence only for Caucasians. Interpretation of these findings is complicated by the relationship we observed between race and route of cocaine administration, with African-American Ss far more likely than Caucasians to be crack smokers or injection users as compared to intranasal users. The effects of race could not be disentangled from the effects of route. Future studies of social relationships and cocaine abstinence should focus on identifying social factors that are protective for African-Americans and for smokers/injectors. Such studies are critical precursors to designing successful social-support interventions.

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In a prospective study of 104 cocaine patients, a baseline assessment was conducted while Ss were in treatment. After treatment completion, Ss were assessed once a week for 12 weeks, then 6 months from study start. A goal of absolute abstinence, greater expected success in quitting, and positive moods predicted a lower risk of a lapse in the first 12 weeks of follow-up. Stress (negative moods, physical symptoms, hassles, and life events) did not predict. Use of more coping strategies predicted abstinence for Caucasian but not for African-American Ss. Baseline measures of expected success and desire to quit predicted continuous abstinence at 6 months but not at statistically significant levels. Results suggest that solidifying abstinence goals and enhancing positive moods may facilitate early abstinence.

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Links between social support and relapse were examined in a study of alcoholics, cigarette smokers, and opiate users completing treatment for drug use (N = 221). Subjects were followed weekly until relapse for a maximum of 12 weeks after the end of treatment. Structural and functional social support and support for abstinence and drug use were investigated. With demographic variables and drug-treatment group controlled, greater structural support (as measured by an index of social integration and by partner status) predicted a lower risk of relapse. Greater experienced partner support for abstinence also predicted lower risk. Social network members' use of the subject's problem drug predicted heightened relapse risk, but the effect was not statistically significant. This study contributes to a cross-drug model of relapse. It highlights the importance of social integration and abstinence-specific functional support in predicting the risk of relapse, independent of the particular drug of abuse.

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Although knowledge about relapse prevention is still at an early stage, the extant data highlight the importance of several constructs. 1. Motivation for abstinence remains central. The construct itself is often clouded because of its association with mystical notions such as willpower and self-control. We know that manipulation of environmental events can increase motivation. These interventions are effective, however, only as long as the contingencies are in effect. We need to develop and evaluate strategies for transferring contingency management to the natural environment, that is, to institutions and groups that can perpetuate them for the long term. Also, clarification of the kinds of abstinence goals needed to prevent relapse is important. 2. Coping skills have been studied by several investigators, but research on these, except for job-finding skills, is not encouraging. The skills usually taught may be too basic. Skills training oriented to complex targets, such as building nondrug-using networks, may be useful and should be further explored. 3. Social support is clearly important, yet we do not know how best to use it to promote abstinence. The little research available suggests that both familial and nonfamilial systems should be mobilized. We need to define abstinence-promoting supportive behaviors, identify and engage important support systems in treatment, and help patients expand their nondrug-using contacts. 4. Negative affect may be causally related to relapse. We need to continue efforts to identify dysphoric patients and develop interventions to ameliorate dysphoria concurrent with drug abuse treatment (cf. Zweben and Smith 1989). 5. Drug cue reactivity and extinction to drug cues have been demonstrated in the laboratory. What is needed in this promising line of research are (1) investigation of cues and cue-reactivity phenomena in the natural environment or in conditions closely mimicking that environment and (2) extinction methods that transfer from the treatment setting to the outside world. Other phenomena are not well understood but seem intuitively important. Maladaptive ways of responding to lapses, such as the AVE, are included here. Another is stress, which our patients and our clinical intuition tell us must play a role in relapse. Its exact role is far from clear.

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The effects of commitment to abstinence and acute stress on return to drug use were examined in a study of treated alcoholics, opiate users, and cigarette smokers (N = 221). Subjects were followed for 12 weeks or until they used their problem drug for 7 consecutive days. Commitment to absolute abstinence at end of treatment was related to a lower risk of returning to use and longer time between the first use and relapse. Withdrawal symptoms and negative and positive moods predicted first drug use, but only when assessed retrospectively. Prospective analyses failed to reveal a link between these variables and return to use. These findings suggest a reevaluation of current models of relapse. Acute stress may be less important in precipitating return to drug use than previously believed.

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Data on fertility and contraception in Micronesian women in the Marshall Islands were collected during a women's health survey in 1985. High total fertility rates were found. The reproductive pattern of many Marshallese women is one that has been associated with adverse health consequences: pregnancies in teenagers and in women over 39 years, high parities of four or more births, and short birth intervals. The practice of breastfeeding is declining in younger women. The prevalence of contraceptive use is low, and the availability of reversible methods is limited. Most contraceptive nonusers would like to practice contraception, but are inhibited by the lack of information about family planning. It is suggested that more attention needs to be given to family planning services in the Marshall Islands, in particular to improving the availability of reversible methods of contraception and of information about family planning. Further research is also needed on how family planning services might best be organized to maximize participation by women and their partners who wish to use such services.

PIP: Fertility and contraception data were collected from 4 islands in the Marshall Islands group, as part of the South Pacific Regional Women's Health Survey. 1419 women from Majuro, Ebeye, Allinglaplap and Wotje were interviewed in health centers in 1985. The Marshall Islands are independent but linked by compact to the U.S. There were 30,873 people, increasing at 2.7%, some on the most densely populated island in the Pacific, Ebeye atoll (about 6000 on 0.3 sq. km.). The total fertility rate ranged from 6.0 children per woman in Majuro to 9.4 in the 2 outer islands. The age-standardized mean number of births per woman was 3.5 in Majuro, 3.9 in Ebeye and 4.5 in the outer islands. 92 to 98% breast feed their infants. About 1/3 of all fecund women practice contraception. The most common methods are tubal ligation, and either pill, rhythm or breastfeeding. Most families use contraception to limit births (47%), or because it was recommended for health reasons (25%). The most common reasons for not using contraception were lack of information, unavailability or fear of health risks. Over half of those not practicing contraception said they did want to do so. This information suggests that reproductive behavior in these islands is associated with adverse health consequences, but that the total fertility rate may have declined slightly, to 7.7, since the figure of 8.4 was reported in 1973.

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