Treatment barriers identified by substance abusers assessed at a centralized intake unit

Rapp, Richard C.; Xu, Jiangmin; Carr, Carey A.; Lane, D. Tim; Wang, Jichuan; Carlson, Robert

doi:10.1016/j.jsat.2006.01.002

« Previous Next »Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment
Volume 30, Issue 3 , Pages 227-235, April 2006

Treatment barriers identified by substance abusers assessed at a centralized intake unit

Center for Interventions, Treatment, and Addictions Research (CITAR), Boonshoft School of Medicine, Wright State University, 3640 Colonel Glenn Highway, Dayton, OH 45435, USA

Received 21 June 2005; received in revised form 30 November 2005; accepted 9 January 2006.

Abstract

The 59-item Barriers to Treatment Inventory (BTI) was administered to 312 substance abusers at a centralized intake unit following assessment but before treatment entry to assess their views on barriers to treatment. Factor analysis identified 25 items in 7 well-defined latent constructs: Absence of Problem, Negative Social Support, Fear of Treatment, Privacy Concerns, Time Conflict, Poor Treatment Availability, and Admission Difficulty. The factorial structure of the barriers is consistent with the findings of other studies that asked substance abusers about barriers to treatment and is conceptually compatible with Andersen's model of health care utilization. Factors were moderately to highly correlated, suggesting that they interact with one another. Selected characteristics were generally not predictive of barrier factors. Overall, results indicate that the BTI has good content validity and is a reliable instrument for assessing barriers to drug treatment. The potential utility of the BTI in assessment settings is discussed.

Keywords: Substance abuse, Barriers, Treatment entry, Centralized intake unit