Cognitive Remediation in the Initial Phase of Substance Abuse Treatment: Feasibility and Efficacy

Background: Patients entering substance abuse treatment display cognitive deficits that may reduce their ability to benefit from their treatment. While there is considerable variety in the severity and types of cognitive impairment found in newly recovering patients, problems with attention, memory and executive function are very common. Since treatment requires sustained attention, remembering what is learned, integrating that knowledge and applying it to recovery, impairment in underlying cognitive processes makes successful treatment less likely. Although cognitive functioning improves with sustained sobriety, it is during the early phase of recovery that most patients receive the most intensive treatment. Recent research has suggested that cognitive remediation exercises during this early phase may speed up the return of cognitive functioning and in so doing may have a direct effect on whether patients find the treatment useful and complete their treatment. By keeping patients in treatment longer, cognitive remediation may have an indirect effect on substance abuse outcomes.

Objectives: To pilot test the introduction of cognitive remediation at the Substance Abuse Day Treatment Program (SADP) at the Errara Community Care Center. Aims are 1) to assess the receptivity of patients to the intervention by determining rates of agreement to participate, 2) to determine the number of cognitive remediation sessions that patients are willing to engage in, 3) to assess a variety of cognitive remediation tasks for their acceptability, 4) to evaluate neuropsychological improvements using pre-post assessment, 5) to evaluate its effects on substance abuse treatment participation, and 6) to evaluate its effects on substance abuse outcomes at 6 months follow-up.

Design: Randomized clinical trial of cognitive remediation with an active control condition with observations at baseline, end of treatment and 6-months from intake