Effectiveness of Contingency Management in VA Addictions Treatment

Design: This will be a randomized, controlled trial. 360 veterans presenting for specialty substance use disorders treatment at the Minneapolis VAMC and the VA Puget Sound Health Care System will be randomly assigned to 8 weeks of Usual Care or Usual Care plus Contingency Management. Minimal exclusion criteria include primary cannabis dependence, primary opioid dependence, screening positive for pathological gambling, serious psychiatric symptoms or suicide risk. Randomization will be stratified by site and primary substance use disorder (alcohol or stimulant). All participants will meet with a research assistant twice per week to submit urine drug and breath alcohol samples. Participants randomized to the contingency management interventions will have the opportunity to draw tokens (with replacement) from a bowl each time they submit negative urine drug and breath alcohol screens. The number of drawings allowed escalates with continuous weeks of negative screens or returns to baseline if screens are positive or missed. Half of the 500 tokens will result in social reinforcement ("Good Job!"). The remainder will earn a VA canteen voucher worth monetary value. Follow-up assessments occur 2, 6, and 12 months after enrollment into the study. Primary outcomes measures include number of days with negative urine drug and breath alcohol screens during the intervention phase, days of treatment attendance during the intervention phase, and percent days abstinent on the Timeline Follow-Back interview at follow-up assessments. Secondary outcomes include a brief assessment of employment, housing, legal, and psychiatric status, and administrative data on VA service utilization. A process evaluation and an economic analysis are included.