Open AccessThe impact of substance use disorders on treatment engagement among justice-involved veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder.
Author(s) -
Matthew Stimmel,
Joel Rosenthal,
Jessica BlueHowells,
Sean Clark,
Alex H. S. Harris,
Anna D. Rubinsky,
Thomas Bowe,
Andrea K. Finlay
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
psychological services
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1939-148X
pISSN - 1541-1559
DOI - 10.1037/ser0000238
Subject(s) - psycinfo , psychiatry , veterans affairs , comorbidity , substance abuse , population , odds , medicine , clinical psychology , mental health , logistic regression , psychology , medline , environmental health , law , political science
Veterans involved with the criminal justice system represent a particularly vulnerable population who experience high rates of both posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorders (SUD). This study sought to investigate whether having co-occurring SUD is a barrier to PTSD treatment. This is a retrospective observational study of a national sample of justice-involved veterans served by the Veterans Health Administration Veterans Justice Outreach program who had a diagnosis of PTSD (N = 27,857). Mixed effects logistic regression models with a random effect for facility (N = 141 medical centers) were utilized to estimate the odds of receiving each type of PTSD treatment as a function of having a SUD diagnosis. Results indicate that a majority of veterans with PTSD served by the Veterans Justice Outreach program have an SUD diagnosis (73%), and having a co-occurring SUD was associated with higher odds of receiving PTSD treatment, after adjusting for demographic differences. Although not without limitations, these results suggest that among justice-involved veterans enrolled in the Veterans Health Administration with PTSD, having an SUD comorbidity is not a barrier to PTSD treatment and may in fact facilitate access to PTSD treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).