© 2005 Behavioral Health Research Institute of the Southwest
612 Encino Place NE / Albuquerque, NM 87102 / 505.244.3099 / www.bhrcs.org

Substance Abuse Treatment Program
for Homeless Persons
Funded by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

Project H&ART was a randomized intervention trial for homeless alcohol abusers in Albuquerque, NM. Interventions were 4 months in duration and included: a high intensity program (case management plus peer-supervised housing) (Group 1), a medium intensity group (peer-supervised housing only) (Group 2); a housed (Group 3), and a nonhoused (Group 4) control group. Clients were interviewed at baseline and re-interviewed 10 months following program entry to determine substance use, housing stability and employment status. Program graduation rates were about 25% for the three housed groups. The outcome evaluation revealed significant within groups improvements in all of the outcomes, no between groups or racial outcome differences, and more favorable alcohol use and housing stability outcomes among program graduates than dropouts. On follow-up, women in the study had fewer days of alcohol use and had more days of stable housing, but were less likely to be employed, compared with men. We suggest that clients’ personal motivation for recovery, rather than program-related factors, were most influential in determining outcomes.

Related Publications

Lapham, S.C., Hall, M., McMurray-Avila, M., and Beaman, H. Albuquerque's community-based housing and support services demonstration program for homeless alcohol abusers. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 10(3–4):139–154, 1993

Lapham, S.C., Hall, M., McMurray-Avila, M., and Beaman, H. Albuquerque's community-based housing and support services demonstration program for homeless alcohol abusers. In: Conrad, K.J., C. I. Hultman, and J. S. Lyons, (1993) Editors. Treatment of the Chemically Dependent Homeless: Theory and Implementation in Fourteen American Projects. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press, Inc.

Lapham, S.C., Hall, M. and Skipper, B.J. Substance Abuse Treatment Program for Homeless Persons, Albuquerque, NM. NIAAA Cooperative Agreement Research Demonstration Program. Final Report, May 1994.

Lapham, S.C., Hall, M., and Skipper, B.J. Homelessness and Substance Use Among Alcohol Abusers Following Participation in Project H&ART. Journal of Addictive Diseases, 14(4), 41–55, 1995.

Lapham, S.C., Hall, M.A., and Skipper, B.J. Homelessness and Substance Use Among Alcohol Abusers Following Participation in Project H&ART. In: The Effectiveness of Social Interventions for Homeless Substance Abusers (ed: Gerald J. Stahler), The Haworth Medical Press, Inc. 1995, pp. 41–55.

Drake, R.E., McHugo, G.J., and Biesanz, J.C. Validity and Reliability Committee of the NIAAA. The Test-Retest Reliability of Standardized Instruments among Homeless Persons with Substance Use Disorders. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 56(2):161–167, 1995.

Lapham, S.C., Hall, M., Snyder, J., Skipper, B., McMurray-Avila, M., Pulvino, S., and Kozeny, T. Demonstration of a Mixed Social/Medical Model Detoxification Program for Homeless Alcohol Abusers. Contemporary Drug Problems, XXIII (2), Summer 1996.