Care pathways to in-patient alcohol detoxification and their effects on predictors of treatment completion
Journal of Substance Use, First Published 08 February 2008


This study aimed to (i) test the hypothesis that stable housing, older age, gate-kept admission route and female gender are predictive of completion of in-patient detoxification treatment, and (ii) compare two care pathways into treatment.

Factors predictive of treatment completion were found to be older age, female gender, employment and undergoing a process of gate-keeping for admission. A comparison of treatment completers between gate-kept and non-gate-kept admissions indicated that while gate-keeping is sensitive to potential completers by favouring people with stable housing it may also be excluding a proportion of clients among younger males with unstable housing who would otherwise benefit from admission.

In developing care pathways that ensure effective and appropriate use of services careful consideration must be given to the impacts upon some client groups who may be disadvantaged by the process.


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