Audit of Substance Abuse Treatment Facilities in ... - SA HealthInfo

In terms of activities relating to programme evaluation, findings show that few facilitiesin Free State, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West and Northern Cape have conductedformal evaluations of their treatment programmes. More specifically, less than half of thefacilities surveyed report having conducted a treatment outcomes evaluation of theirprogramme; half of the facilities have conducted a process evaluation of theirprogramme/s; with a similar proportion having evaluated the quality of their treatmentservices. Despite this, many treatment facilities make statements about their treatment“success rate.” This is cause for concern as it is impossible to make accurate claims abouttreatment “success rates” without having conducted an outcome evaluation.It should be noted that the costs of conducting formal programme evaluations are oftenhigh, and facilities that rely on public funding for financial sustainability may not havefinancial resources available for research and evaluation. [All of the facilities thatparticipated in this study have non-profit status.] Nonetheless, as findings fromprogramme evaluations can be used to both improve service quality (and client outcomes)and to motivate funding agencies for additional treatment resources, it is vital that nonprofitfacilities afford greater priority to programme evaluation activities.Finally, many facilities displayed poor understandings of the terms “monitoring” and“evaluation.” This reflects a need for substance abuse practitioners to be trained in i) theimportance of monitoring and evaluation for programme planning and serviceimprovement, ii) basic principles of monitoring and evaluation (such as the identificationof suitable indicators for monitoring and evaluating substance abuse treatmentprogrammes), and iii) systems for the routine monitoring of clients within and posttreatment.4.5. RECOMMENDATIONSTo improve the availability and utilisation of substance abuse treatment facilitiesAvailability of treatment services• In general, the availability of affordable treatment options needs to be increased. Acost-effective way of achieving this would be to increase the number of state-fundedoutpatient facilities.78