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The Impact of Remedial Programme Participation on Convicted Drinking Drivers’ Alcohol and Other Drug Use 6 Months Following Programme Completion

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International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Back on Track (BOT) is Ontario’s remedial measures programme for convicted drinking drivers. Based on a pre-workshop assessment, individuals are assigned to complete either an 8-h Education workshop or a 16-h Treatment workshop. Six months later, participants are required to complete a 30-min follow-up interview by telephone. This report presents an outcome evaluation of the BOT programme, examining levels of substance use and related problems assessed during the follow-up interview. This evaluation is based on data from 9202 participants who completed the programme between October 1, 2008 and June 1, 2010. Results indicate that completion of BOT is associated with significant reductions in frequency of alcohol and other drug use, negative consequences as a result of drug use, number of drinks consumed per drinking occasion, and total number of substance users (alcohol and otherwise). There were also significantly more participants who changed substance-using status from ‘users’ at assessment to ‘non-user’ at follow-up than those from non-user at assessment to user at follow-up. These beneficial changes were seen in both the Education and Treatment workshop groups. Recommendations are presented to guide future efforts to improve the effectiveness of BOT and similar programmes in reducing alcohol- and drug-related problems, including impaired driving.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 33 Russell Street, T417, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2S1, Canada

    Christine M. Wickens, Rosely Flam-Zalcman, Gina Stoduto, Chloe Docherty, Tara Marie Watson, Mark van der Maas, Bruna Brands, Justin Matheson, Robert E. Mann & Rita K. Thomas

  2. Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Christine M. Wickens & Robert E. Mann

  3. Health Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    Bruna Brands

  4. Department of Pharmacology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Bruna Brands & Justin Matheson

  5. Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

    Gabriela Ilie

Authors
  1. Christine M. Wickens
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  2. Rosely Flam-Zalcman
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  3. Gina Stoduto
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  6. Mark van der Maas
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  7. Bruna Brands
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  8. Gabriela Ilie
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  9. Justin Matheson
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  10. Robert E. Mann
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  11. Rita K. Thomas
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christine M. Wickens.

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Conflict of Interest Statement

C.M. Wickens, G. Stoduto, T.M. Watson, M. van der Maas, B. Brands, G. Ilie, J. Matheson, and R.E. Mann declare that they have no conflict of interest. R. Flam-Zalcman, C. Docherty, and R. Thomas are funded through the Province of Ontario’s contract with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health to manage the Back on Track program.

Informed Consent Statement

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000.

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Wickens, C.M., Flam-Zalcman, R., Stoduto, G. et al. The Impact of Remedial Programme Participation on Convicted Drinking Drivers’ Alcohol and Other Drug Use 6 Months Following Programme Completion. Int J Ment Health Addiction 16, 598–616 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-017-9799-y

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