Women's Recovery Group (WRG) Study - A Randomized Controlled Stage II Trial

Summary

The purpose of this Stage II randomized controlled behavioral treatment development trial was to test the effectiveness of the Women's Recovery Group (WRG) relative to mixed-gender Group Drug Counseling (GDC) and demonstrate the feasibility of implementing the WRG in an open-enrollment (i.e., rolling admission) group format at two clinical sites. The Stage II trial aims were to (1) investigate effectiveness of the WRG relative to GDC in a sample of women heterogeneous with respect to substance use and co-occurring psychiatric disorders, and (2) demonstrate the feasibility of implementing WRG in an open enrollment group format characteristic of community treatment programs at two sites.

Conditions

• Substance-Related Disorders
• Alcohol-Related Disorders

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

The Women's Recovery Group

The Women's Recovery Group (WRG) is a manual-based group therapy for women heterogeneous with respect to their substance use disorder, co-occurring psychiatric disorders, trauma history, age, and stage of life. The WRG is a 12-session, structured relapse-prevention group therapy that utilizes a cognitive behavioral approach and includes gender-specific content and single-gender group composition. Individual session content was derived from research on gender-specific substance use disorder antecedents, consequences, and treatment outcomes. The overall goals of the treatment are to (1) promote abstinence from all substances including alcohol; (2) improve understanding of specific aspects of SUDs, recovery, and relapse that are relevant to women, and (3) help participants with skills and strategies useful in preventing relapse and promoting recovery.

BEHAVIORAL

Group Drug Counseling

Group Drug Counseling (GDC) is a standard 12-week, 90-minute mixed-gender group therapy. The overall goals of GDC are to 1) help patients to achieve abstinence from all substances including alcohol; 2) educate patients regarding recovery from substance use disorders; 3) increase patients' self-awareness of the problems that their substance use disorder has caused; 4) encourage patients to give mutual support; and 5) help patients learn new ways to cope with problems in order to prevent relapse. The GDC was chosen as the comparison group to approximate group drug counseling that is consistent with treatment as usual within the community.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

  collaborator NIH

• Mclean Hospital

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Shelly F Greenfield, MD, MPH · Mclean Hospital

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2008-08-31

Primary Completion

2011-08-31

Completion

2012-06-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations