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Study Name
Study of Abstinence-Contingent Wage Supplements for Drug Use
Study Sharepoint ID
101057
Evaluation name
Abstinence-contingent wage supplements to promote drug abstinence and employment
Intervention (standard name)
Outcome domains examined
Strength of Evidence Tag
Design
Services
Populations targeted
Settings in which the intervention was studied
Subgroups
Subgroup data - Female
No
Subgroup data - Male
No
Subgroup data - White
No
Subgroup data - Black
No
Percent substance dependent
100.00
Percent Justice involved
81.19
Percent female
45.42
Percent Male
54.58
Percent With a high school diploma or GED
66.00
Percent Employed
26.25
Percent Unemployed
73.75
Percent Black or African American
56.25
Percent White
39.75
Percent another race
4.00
Mean age
47.70
Group formation formatted
Participants were recruited from community agencies and via street outreach. After an initial 90-day offer of therapeutic workplace programming, participants who had attended the therapeutic workplace on 10 of the final 20 days of the 90-day period were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to the intervention or comparison condition.
Study timing formatted
2015 to 2020
Study funding formatted
National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health, Grants R01 DA037314 and T32 DA07209.
Sample Characteristics
Participants were adults who were unemployed, enrolled in or eligible for methadone or buprenorphine maintenance treatment, provided an opioid-positive urine sample, indicated an interest in employment, and lived in or near Baltimore City. Most participants were in poverty (98 percent), majority had a history of incarceration (81 percent), and more than half were African American (56 percent) and male (55 percent).
Implementing organization formatted
Johns Hopkins Center for Learning and Health, Bayview Campus
Program history
The intervention was a pilot program.
Treatment condition formatted
Participants in the program could earn abstinence-contingent stipends for working with an employment specialist for up to 12 months and for engaging in job-seeking behaviors for up to 20 hours per week (up to approximately $10 per hour), in addition to receiving the usual care received by the comparison condition. Stipends were divided into base pay for hours worked and performance pay for job seeking behaviors. When employed, participants could earn additional abstinence-contingent wage supplements for all verified hours worked in community jobs for up to 40 hours per week (for up to $8 per hour). Abstinence was confirmed through a routine and then progressively more intermittent random drug testing schedule.
Comparison condition formatted
Participants in the usual care condition did not receive the abstinent-contingent stipends or wage supplements but could work with an employment specialist for up to one year. The specialist implemented a variation of individual placement and support, which focused on promoting employment in competitive jobs that were selected based on client preferences. Departures from this model included the employment specialists not spending most of their time in the community or establishing relationships with employers, and participants not being referred to jobs identified by the employment specialists through their contacts with employers.
Mandatory services formatted
None
Timing of study formatted
12 months
Program funding formatted
Not described.
Setting details formatted
Baltimore, Maryland at the Center for Learning and Health on the Johns Hopkins Bayview Campus.
Delivered by public or private entity?
Private
Secondary domains examined
Substance use outcomes
Earliest publication year
2020
Most recent publication year
2022
Check edits flag
No
Primary Service
Performance- or behavior-based financial incentives
Services Unclear
This field is populated using a formula. Do not manually edit.
Enrollment Period
November 2015 to April 2018
Intervention Duration
12.00
Subgroup data - Hispanic
No
State & Region