Reinforcing integrated psychiatric service attendance in an opioid-agonist program: A randomized and controlled trial

Background: The benefits of integrating substance abuse and psychiatric care may be limited by poor service utilization. This randomized clinical trial evaluated the efficacy of using contingency management to improve utilization of psychiatric services co-located and integrated within a community-based methadone maintenance treatment program. Methods: Opioid-dependent outpatients (n= 125) with any current psychiatric disorder were randomly assigned to: (1) reinforced on-site integrated care (ROIC), with vouchers (worth $25.00) contingent on full adherence to each week of scheduled psychiatric services; or (2) standard on-site integrated care (SOIC). All participants received access to the same schedule of psychiatrist and mental health counseling sessions for 12-weeks. Results: ROIC participants attended more overall psychiatric sessions at month 1 (M= 7.53 vs. 3.97, p< .001), month 2 (M= 6.31 vs. 2.81, p<. .001), and month 3 (M= 5.71 vs. 2.44, p< .001). Both conditions evidenced reductions in psychiatric distress (p< .001) and similar rates of drug-positive urine samples. No differences in study retention were observed. Conclusions: These findings suggest that contingency management can improve utilization of psychiatric services scheduled within an on-site and integrated treatment model. Delivering evidenced-based mental health counseling, or modifying the contingency plan to include illicit drug use, may be required to facilitate greater changes in psychiatric and substance abuse outcomes.