Substance Abuse Treatment for Older Adults in Private Centers
Open accessAbstract
By 2020, an estimated 4.4 million older adults will require substance abuse treatment compared to 1.7 million in 2000–01. This study examined the availability of special services for older adults, adoption of recommended treatment approaches, and organizational characteristics of centers that offer special services. Data were collected via face-to-face interviews with administrators and/or clinical directors from a nationally representative sample of 346 private treatment centers participating in the 2006–07 National Treatment Center Study. Results indicated that only 18% provided special services for older adults; age-specific recommendations were generally adopted; more older adult-specialty centers offered prescription drug addiction treatment, primary medical care, and housing assistance. The proportion of patients with Medicare payment predicted availability of special services. As more older adults will seek help with a myriad of substance use disorders (SUDs) over the next decade, treatment centers need to get ready for a plethora of challenges as well as unique opportunities for growth.
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Most primary care physicians do not routinely screen older adults for SUDs, even in the presence of well-known risk factors such as anxiety or depressive symptoms, increased social isolation, and poor physical health.
“Most primary care physicians do not routinely screen older adults for SUDs, even in the presence of well- known risk factors such as anxiety or depressive symptoms, increased social isolation, and poor physical health 324 .”
From Substance use disorders: a comprehensive update of classification, epidemiology, neurobiology, clinical aspects, treatment and prevention (2023) · cites this paper as [324]
The Introduction states that primary care and specialist physicians do not routinely address or screen older adults for SUDs. It also associates loneliness and isolation with undetected SUDs, but does not say that physicians fail to screen even when the listed risk factors are present, or identify anxiety, depressive symptoms, and poor physical health as screening risk factors. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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- Authors
- Rothrauff, T. C., Abraham, A. J., Bride, B. E., & Roman, P. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Georgia (US)
- Corresponding author
- Rothrauff, Tanja C.
- Venue
- Substance Abuse
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2011-01
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 7-15
- ISSN
- 0889-7077 (ISSN-L)
- 1547-0164
- PMC
- PMC3061824
- OpenAlex
- W2009820093
- Cited by
- 20
- References
- 13
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 0.96
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Substance Abuse (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (5r01da013110-10)
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01-DA13110, K01DA024718, L30 DA023791, R37DA013110, R01-DA013110)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Opioid Use Disorder Treatment
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Homelessness and Social Issues
- Keywords
- older adults, addiction treatment, prescription drug addiction, Medicare payments, housing assistance, primary care
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Health Services Accessibility, Humans, United States, Substance Abuse Treatment Centers, Private Sector, Practice Guidelines as Topic, Substance-Related Disorders
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