Building capacity in AAC: A person-centred approach to supporting participation by people with complex communication needs.

Effective communication is based both on the capacity of the person with complex communication needs, and of other key stakeholders (including communication and education professionals, family members, community partners, and healthcare professionals), to ensure that appropriate AAC supports are provided. In this paper, we describe strategies to build awareness of AAC and to assist people with complex communication needs in obtaining needed services; to build the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of AAC service providers; to provide instruction for people with complex communication needs, as well as communication partners and advocates; and to develop communication supports in society more broadly. We also provide an agenda for building capacity in research and development activities to support full participation by people with complex communication needs throughout society.

Interaction effects of treatment setting and client characteristics on retention and completion.

Client-treatment matching assumes treatment outcome will be improved if characteristics of clients are matched to specific elements of treatment. Few empirical studies, however, have examined matching across different types of treatment settings. The present research examined differences in demographics and substance-related problems in populations admitted to three substance abuse treatment settings--outpatient (n = 1132), intensive outpatient (n = 1190), and residential (n = 149)--and tested whether interactions between client characteristics and type of setting predicted rates of 30-day retention and treatment completion. In addition, three specific hypotheses based on prior theoretical and empirical investigations were tested. Client characteristics included demographic information (e.g., sex, age, race) and Addiction Severity Index (ASI) composite scores. Client-setting interactions were found for both retention and completion. All three hypotheses received at least partial support. Implications for client assignment and future research are discussed.

Women are less likely to be admitted to substance abuse treatment within 30 days of assessment.

The information gathered in a centralized intake unit (CIU) allows payers and administrators to examine if there are access issues for their population. For this study, the authors examined whether there were gender differences in the rate at which people are admitted to treatment within 30 days of assessment. Of the 5,004 individuals seeking publicly-funded substance abuse treatment in Detroit for the years 1996-97, 50.3% of those assessed at the CIU actually entered treatment. Women (31% of the people assessed) had a lower rate of admission (45% for women versus 53% for men) a difference that was maintained even after controlling for known risk factors. Women who were given priority for admission (i.e., those who were pregnant, had children, or injected drugs) had a higher rate of admission than other women (73% versus 39%), but only 17% of the women presenting were included in the priority groups. Men who were injecting drugs (a priority group) also had a higher rate of admission than other men (83% versus 49%). In multivariate analysis controlling for priority groups and known risk factors, women were still less likely to be admitted to treatment within 30 days of admission than men. Establishing priorities improves the rate of admission within 30 days of assessment for those groups, but more needs to be done to improve the admission rate for women. These results demonstrate that a CIU allows administrators to monitor for access issues.