Trajectories of Psychological Distress of Men Treated at Aboriginal Residential Rehabilitation Services for Alcohol and Drug Misuse

Aboriginal residential rehabilitation services in New South Wales provide accommodation and treatment for alcohol and other drug dependence, primarily to Aboriginal Australians. While it is known that many clients arrive at these services with high levels of psychological distress, estimates of how levels of psychological distress change during treatment have been lacking. Latent class growth models were fitted to repeated observations of Kessler’s K10 measure of psychological distress of male clients at four rehabilitation services. K10 trajectories were best described by four trajectory classes, high initial but decreasing distress (Class 1), intermediate initial but decreasing distress (Class 2), mostly high but variable distress (Class 3), and low distress (Class 4). Clients referred from the legal system were more likely to have a K10 trajectory with low or intermediate K10 at admission than clients that self-referred or were referred by family or friends. Clients lacking stable accommodation before admission were more likely to experience a K10 trajectory with high K10 at admission. K10 shows promise as an indicator of well-being for Aboriginal Australians with alcohol or other drug use disorder. More research is required to establish whether trajectories of psychological distress during extended inpatient care for alcohol and other drug dependence may be useful for diagnosing co-occurring psychiatric disorders.

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