Page 4031 - Week 11 - Thursday, 26 September 2019
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Young people are not case managed by Canberra Health Services following completion of treatment, but may be referred to other services which provide additional treatment, case management or other supports according to needs.
(10) In line with the requirements of the National Minimum Data Set for Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services, information is gathered by all services on the reason a treatment episode was closed. These reasons may include that treatment was successfully completed, or that the client left against advice.
The Ted Noffs Foundation is currently working to gather more information about why young people may exit its program at an early stage.
(11) “Success Rate” is not a term used to evaluate the performance of alcohol and other drug treatment services. As noted above in answer (3), Substance Abuse disorders are ongoing and complex conditions that are not resolved through short term interventions but require ongoing support and care.
Alcohol and other drug treatments in the ACT are based on evidence from scientific studies of successful treatment approaches and informed by clinical practice. Treatment is therefore based on models that have demonstrated previous success.
The Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services National Minimum Dataset contains measures that are relevant to treatment success, such as whether treatment was completed as planned and the length of treatment.
Annual reports for this dataset are publicly available on the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare website at: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/alcohol-other-drug-treatment-services/aodts-2017-18-key-findings/contents/data-cubes.
In addition, there are many measures of success relevant to outcomes of alcohol and other drug treatment, including, but not limited to, abstinence from alcohol and other drugs or reduction in usage, which will be captured in individual treatment plans but not captured in national data reporting.
For example, Ted Noffs provided information to ACT Health Directorate, based on 2018-19 program participation, that three months after treatment clients reported:
• reduced cannabis use from an average of 24 days to 13 days per month and reduced amount consumed from 23 joints or cones per day of use to 11 per day of use;
• reduced amphetamine use from an average of seven days per month to three days per month and a reduced amount of amphetamines consumed per day of use from four points (doses) to one point (dose) per day of use;
• a reduction in those who felt their drug use was out of control from 63 per cent to 21 per cent;
• a reduction in offending for theft from 39 per cent to 19 per cent;
• a reduction in those who said their family did not get along from 45 per cent to 28 per cent; and
• a reduction in those reporting suicidal thoughts from 43 per cent to 13 per cent.
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