Weekly patterns of drug treatment attendance

Objectives. This study examined weekly patterns of drug treatment attendance in relation to date of welfare payment receipt and reason for treatment absence. Methods. Treatment attendance by Medicaid-eligible pregnant women who were drug dependent was examined by calendar week over a 29-month period. Results. Time series analyses showed that attendance was lower during week 1 than week 4. Drug use was the most frequently reported reason for treatment absence during week 1 (25%) but was not reported as a reason during week 3. Conclusions. Drug-dependent outpatients had increased absences associated with illicit drug use during the first week of the month when welfare payments were received. The generalizability of the findings is unknown.