DOI: 10.3886/icpsr02258.v5
title: Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study (DATOS), 1991-1994: [United States]
title: Version 5

description: Drug-Abuse Treatment Outcomes Study (DATOS) is a
prospective study designed to determine the outcomes of adult drug
abuse treatment delivered in typical, stable, community-based programs
and to provide comprehensive information on continuing and new
questions about the effectiveness of drug abuse treatment for adults
currently available in a variety of publicly funded and private
programs. The study examined the role of treatment outcomes and
program type, client characteristics (including dependence, treatment
history, and physical and mental health comorbidities), treatment
received (e.g., length and intensity of services provided),
therapeutic approaches, provision of aftercare, and research on the
components of effective treatment, including factors that engage and
retain clients in programs. Four types of programs were included:
outpatient methadone (OPM), short-term inpatient (STI), long-term
residential (LTR), and outpatient drug-free (ODF). Respondents were
sampled from among adults admitted to drug abuse treatment programs in
11 representative U.S. cities during 1991-1993.
Clients entering treatment completed two comprehensive intake
interviews (Intake 1 and Intake 2), approximately one week apart. This
information is provided in Parts 1 and 2 of the data collection. These
interviews were designed to obtain baseline data on drug use and other
behaviors, as well as information on background and demographic
characteristics, patterns of dependence, living situation and child
custody status, education and training, income and expenditures, and
HIV risk behaviors, along with assessments of dependence, mental
health, physical health, and social functioning. Data on criminal
justice status and criminal behavior are reported in Part 5, Illegal
Activities Data, and are drawn from the Intake 1 interview. Data
reflecting during-treatment progress, including service delivery and
client satisfaction, were collected in the one-, three-, and six-month
in-treatment interviews (Parts 3, 4, and 8). The 12-Month
Post-Treatment Follow-Up Interview (Part 6) replicated many of the
intake questions and focused on key behaviors in the year following
treatment. Part 7 includes variables for time in treatment and
interview availability indicators. The 12-Month Follow-Up Urine Result
data (Part 9) provide the results from urine sample tests that were
given to a sample of subjects at the time of the 12-Month Follow-Up
Interview. Urine specimens were tested for eight categories of drugs
(amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, cannabinoids, cocaine
metabolite, methaqualone, opiates, and phencyclidine). The drugs
covered in the study were alcohol, tobacco, marijuana (hashish, THC),
hallucinogens or psychedelics such as LSD, mescaline, and PCP, cocaine
(including crack), heroin, narcotics or opiates such as morphine,
codeine, Demerol, Dilaudid, and Talwin, downers or depressants such as
sedatives, barbiturates, and tranquilizers, amphetamines or other
stimulants such as speed or diet pills, and other drugs. Part 10 contains data for 1393 clients who were interviewed 5 years post treatment. This part contains many of the same types of questions asked during previous interviews.
description: A total of 96 treatment programs in 11 mid-size and large
United States cities with well-established treatment systems
participated in DATOS. Programs were purposively sampled to reflect
typical clinical approaches across the four modalities: outpatient
methadone, short-term inpatient, long-term residential, and outpatient
drug-free. Geographic location, type of program, and
representativeness of the program and its clients were considered in
the three-level process of selecting cities, programs, and clients.
Respondents were sampled from among those admitted to treatment in
sampled facilities in 1991-1993. A total of 10,010 clients
participated in the Intake 1 interview. Of those, 8,755 participated
in the Intake 2 interview, 6,148 in the one-month intreatment
interview, 3,180 in the three-month intreatment interview, and 2,966
in the 12-month follow-up. The sample for Intake 1 was 66 percent
male, 47 percent African American, and 13 percent Hispanic, with a
mean age of 33 years. However, these and other client characteristics
varied across modalities, reflecting differing therapeutic and
operational characteristics. For the 12-month follow-up sample, 4,229
of the eligible clients who completed the two-stage intake interviews
were selected for follow-up using a stratified random design. Of these
respondents, 74 percent (n = 3,147) were located, 70 percent (n =
2,966) were successfully interviewed, 1.5 percent (n = 64) were
deceased, and 2.7 percent (n = 117) refused to participate. Gender,
ethnicity, and average age were not significantly different between
the intake and follow-up samples. A random 25 percent of the follow-up
sample was selected for urine testing. Altogether, 770 of the
respondents interviewed at follow-up were selected for urine
testing. From this group, 621 urine samples were obtained. The
remaining cases included refusals and situations in which it was
impossible to obtain a urine sample. Altogether, 21 percent of the
follow-up respondents had urine drug screening results.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Intake 1 Data
DS2: Intake 2 Data
DS3: 1-Month Intreatment Data
DS4: 3-Month Intreatment Data
DS5: Illegal Activities Data
DS6: 12-Month Follow-Up Data
DS7: Time in Treatment and Interview Availability Indicators
DS8: 6-Month Intreatment Interview Data
DS9: 12-Month Follow-Up Urine Result Data
DS10: 5-Year Follow-Up Data
DS11: Merged Data Files for Online Analysis
description: Clients admitted to selected drug treatment programs in
1991-1993.
description: face-to-face interviewUsers are advised that the data are most
appropriately analyzed by modality.The Intake 1 and Intake 2 data
files contain several continuous variables that denote age at the time
of a certain event. For some of these variables, dichotomous codes 1
and 95 were also used for "don't know but under 15" and "don't know
but 15 or older," respectively. Code 1 was also used for actual
responses of "1 year old." Because it is unlikely that these events
occurred at age 1, the code 1 was changed to 94 ("1 or don't know but
under 15") in order to make it clearer that this code denotes
something other than age 1. Users are cautioned that this may have an
effect on any analyses performed using these variables.DATOS is
an ongoing collaborative research effort of the National Development
and Research Institutes at North Carolina (NDRI), Texas Christian
University, the University of California at Los Angeles, and NIDA. For
additional information, see the DATOS
Web site.