Pubdate: Mon, 14 June 1999 Source: Bakersfield Californian (CA) Copyright: 1999, The Bakersfield Californian. Contact: http://www.bakersfield.com/ Author: Olivia Garcia, Californian staff writer, COUNTY WILL TRACK REHAB EFFECTIVENESS Next month, substance abuse experts will start tracking the lives of some Kern County residents who are in treatment programs because of a drug or alcohol problem. Local officials then hope to gauge which substance abuse treatment programs work and which ones don't. Kern will collect the information as part of a new three-year state and national study assessing how well various treatment programs are working. Kern is one of 14 counties selected by the state Department of Alcohol and Drugs program to participate in the pilot study. Results of the study could be used to change public policy or legislation in the area of substance abuse treatment. "The study is going to be a landmark for this particular field," said Terry Robinson, drug and alcohol administrator for the Kern County Mental Health Department. "This is really the next step into the scientific knowledge of the alcohol and drug field." The county Mental Health Department is one of four Kern County treatment programs participating. The others are Ebony Counseling Center and College Health clinics in Lake Isabella and Ridgecrest. Called the California Treatment Outcome Project, the study will develop and test an outcome monitoring system for substance abuse treatment programs over a three-year period. It will start July 1, 1999. As part of the study, Kern will track about 500 clients for three years to see how they are responding to treatment and what happens to them once they're off the program, Robinson said. Not every substance abuse treatment program is the same. Some promote abstinence while others, such as the methadone maintenance program, prescribe methadone to keep participants off heroin. The study will be able to compare those kinds of programs and more, he added. It also will monitor results, such as decreased use of drugs and alcohol and improved family and social relationships. The study could serve as a model. Though state and county agencies monitor substance abuse programs, there isn't a system that tracks why people succeed in one program and not another, and how treatment affected their personal lives, said Maria Caudill, spokeswoman for the state Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs. "We want to look at what are really the outcomes" of substance abuse treatment programs, Caudill said. "There has been a lot of support from the (participating) counties. It's really a collaborative effort." The state has participated in other studies, which found for every $1 invested in treatment, $7 was saved in medical, social service and prison expenses, Caudill said. The study also showed treatment resulted in low recidivism rates in prison and less demand on social services. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D