Measuring Treatment Effectiveness in Real‐World Substance Use Care: A Community‐Based Program Evaluation

ABSTRACT This study reports findings from a community‐based program evaluation examining treatment effectiveness in a real‐world outpatient substance use care setting. Using a within‐program pre–post design, changes in alcohol and drug use were assessed among clients receiving intensive outpatient services. Analyses focused on estimation of change and effect size interpretation. Results indicated reductions in alcohol use and overall substance use, with very large effect sizes. Posttreatment psychosocial functioning scores were significantly lower than clinical and treatment‐entry benchmarks. Overall, this evaluation demonstrates that community‐integrated outpatient substance use treatment can produce clinically meaningful outcomes in real‐world care.