Racial & Ethnic Disparities in Outpatient Treatment Completion

A study exploring the completion of outpatient substance use disorder treatment has highlighted racial and ethnic health disparities. 

The research team utilised a sample of 416,224 outpatient discharges in the study which found people of Hispanic or African American ethnic background were less likely to complete treatment than people of a white ethnicity. The disparities were found to vary across different substances while there were also variances in the likelihood of which substances individuals from certain ethnic backgrounds might be accessing treatment for. 

It was also explored in the discussion of the data that those who are from an African American ethnic background are less likely than those who are from a white ethnic background to be accessing treatment for methamphetamine use and the potential cultural and social isolation they experience while accessing treatment would have a negative impact on their treatment progress. It is suggested that "culturally appropriate treatment programs enhance treatment program retention and associated positive post-treatment outcome". 

The study was published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment and is available online with an in depth discussion of the research found online on Recoveryanswers.org