The contingency of escalating incentives is designed specifically to reinforce periods of sustained drug abstinence. Studies show that patients receiving vouchers for drug-free urine samples achieved significantly more weeks of abstinence and significantly more weeks of sustained abstinence than patients who were given vouchers independent of urinalysis results. In another study, urinalyses positive for heroin decreased significantly when the voucher program was started and increased significantly when the program was stopped. Day Treatment With Abstinence Contingencies and Vouchers was developed to treat homeless crack addicts. For the first 2 months, participants must spend 5.5 hours daily in the program, which provides lunch and transportation to and from shelters.
Individual counseling occurs once a week, and group therapy sessions are held three times a week.
A voucher system also rewards drug-free related social and recreational activities. Innovative day treatment followed by work and housing dependent upon drug abstinence had a more positive effect on alcohol use, cocaine use, and days homeless. The College on Problems of Drug Dependence, Inc., 1996. The NIH is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services .