This report describes the field testing of two recently developed instruments for treatment evaluation research – the Maudsley Addiction Profile (MAP) and the Treatment Perceptions Questionnaire (TPQ) – in Italy, Portugal and Spain. The MAP and TPQ have been developed in the United Kingdom as brief instruments which contain measures of high face validity for research applications with the adult psychoactive substance use disorder population. The present study assesses the application of these instruments in the continental European context and assesses the internal and test-retest reliabilities of the items. A total of 206 subjects participated in the study (124 subjects participated in the MAP test-retest study, and 95 clients completed the TPQ). Thirteen subjects completed both the MAP and the TPQ questionnaires. Results of the study indicated that the MAP can be administered to clients in 15 min or less. The internal and test-retest reliabilities of the MAP and TPQ are satisfactory. Both instruments are suitable for treatment evaluation and other relevant research purposes in the European Union.

No abstract

A brief historical exploration is required to give a clear view of ERIT-Italia's background.In 1975, a law was issued in Italy that de-criminalized the use of moderate amounts of narcotic and psychotrophic substances, and referred drug addicts (and users) to the public services.However, the psychiatric services, which at that time were comprised almost exclusively of asylums, were going through a deep crisis. This reached its peak in 1978, with the proclamation of the so-called Basaglia Law, which decreed their closure and led to the subsequent radical reorganization of alternative structures. In the meantime, there was a considerable rise in social, cultural and criminal influences that favoured a huge increase in the number of drug users (initially concerning cannabis, LSD and heroin), with a consequent rise in social and health problems.This situation meant that at the moment at which public attention was drawn to the 'drugs problem' and methods of how to reduce and treat it were examined, Italy was completely lacking in treatment services. The scientific-cultural debate that ensued, involving psychiatrists, led them to 'abdicate from the drug addiction field, a situation that today they still have difficulty in reversing, although, in theory, it is their duty' (Nizzoli 2000).This was the situation that gave rise to hundreds of micro and macro solutions involving volunteers and, above all, the Catholic Church. THE HAPHAZARD BIRTH OF NEW RESPONSESThe situation was exacerbated by the complete overhaul that the Italian National Health Service underwent in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This resulted in more confusion than resources when it came to the process of identifying and constructing prevention and treatment structures for the various stages of drug dependency: the 'drug problem' was more widespread in certain regions which were quicker than others to organize themselves. There were also regional differences regarding the names given to the structures: the embryos of today's SerT (drug dependency services) were called CTST in certain regions and NOT, CNOT, NAD, CAD or CAT elsewhere. At the beginning of the 1990s no effort had been made to render the situation more uniform or to co-ordinate the activities of the public and private services that had sprung up in a completely eclectic and random way

No abstract