Southern regional substance abuse treatment programs: an impact analysis of aging African American patient outcomes

Background Aging African Americans experience severe behavioral healthcare conditions and service barriers across the spectrum of American life. Barriers include homeless services, racial bias, deficient support from healthcare institutions, healthcare mistrust, and shortages culturally competent healthcare practitioners. Shortages of culturally competent healthcare/social work practitioners and inadequate resources create varying degrees of efficacy in treatment program outcomes.Methods A longitudinal multivariate non-experimental quantitative research design was developed for this research study. Secondary samples of national patient data (N = 900) from federally funded outpatient treatment programs in 2020, 2021, and 2022 in the Southern region of the US were generated. Those secondary samples of data were extracted from the Treatment Episode Data Set – Discharge, published by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Those longitudinal samples of data were analyzed using forward stepwise Fisher’s Discriminant Function Analysis, and Pearson’s Chi-Square Test of Independence was executed for post hoc analyses.Results Three null hypotheses were tested, and all were rejected.Conclusion This population needs wraparound services given years of inadequate treatment options. More effective wraparound treatment protocols can lead to more effective outcomes. Overall, higher program completion rates contribute toward strengthening AA communities and producing more positive socioeconomic productivity outcomes.