TY - JOUR
T1 - The effects of sponsorship in 12-step treatment of injection drug users
AU - Crape, Byron L.
AU - Latkin, Carl A.
AU - Laris, Alexandra S.
AU - Knowlton, Amy R.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by grant RO1DA09951 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. We especially acknowledge the contributions to this investigation by the entire SAIL research team at the Lighthouse.
Copyright:
Copyright 2008 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2002/2/1
Y1 - 2002/2/1
N2 - What contributes to sustained abstinence from injection drug use by those who participate in community-based Narcotics Anonymous (NA) and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is not well understood. We know that sponsorship is a central element in these programs. To investigate the relationship between sponsorship and abstinence, we evaluated NA/AA sponsorship over a 1-year period in a longitudinal study of 500 former and current injection drug users in inner-city Baltimore recruited from the community-at-large, independent of treatment center affiliation. The findings indicated that having a sponsor in NA/AA for this population was not associated with any improvement in 1-year sustained abstinence rates than a non-sponsored group. However, being a sponsor over the same time period was strongly associated with substantial improvements in sustained abstinence rates for the sponsors, controlling for involvement with community organizations, NA/AA meeting attendance, marital status, employment, participation in drug and alcohol treatment centers and HIV status. Involvement in community organizations was also strongly associated with successful abstinence, controlling for the same variables. Of those participants involved with community organizations, more than half reported involvement in church activities. Our investigation suggests that, for NA/AA sponsors in this study population, providing direction and support to other addicts is associated with improved success in sustained abstinence for the sponsors but does little to improve the short-term success of the persons being sponsored.
AB - What contributes to sustained abstinence from injection drug use by those who participate in community-based Narcotics Anonymous (NA) and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is not well understood. We know that sponsorship is a central element in these programs. To investigate the relationship between sponsorship and abstinence, we evaluated NA/AA sponsorship over a 1-year period in a longitudinal study of 500 former and current injection drug users in inner-city Baltimore recruited from the community-at-large, independent of treatment center affiliation. The findings indicated that having a sponsor in NA/AA for this population was not associated with any improvement in 1-year sustained abstinence rates than a non-sponsored group. However, being a sponsor over the same time period was strongly associated with substantial improvements in sustained abstinence rates for the sponsors, controlling for involvement with community organizations, NA/AA meeting attendance, marital status, employment, participation in drug and alcohol treatment centers and HIV status. Involvement in community organizations was also strongly associated with successful abstinence, controlling for the same variables. Of those participants involved with community organizations, more than half reported involvement in church activities. Our investigation suggests that, for NA/AA sponsors in this study population, providing direction and support to other addicts is associated with improved success in sustained abstinence for the sponsors but does little to improve the short-term success of the persons being sponsored.
KW - Abstinence
KW - Alcoholics Anonymous
KW - Injection drug users
KW - Narcotics Anonymous
KW - Sponsorship
KW - Twelve-step programs
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U2 - 10.1016/S0376-8716(01)00175-2
DO - 10.1016/S0376-8716(01)00175-2
M3 - Article
C2 - 11841900
AN - SCOPUS:0036472128
SN - 0376-8716
VL - 65
SP - 291
EP - 301
JO - Drug and alcohol dependence
JF - Drug and alcohol dependence
IS - 3
ER -