NDARC Technical Report No. 156 (2003)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A brief, multidimensional instrument has been designed to monitor treatment outcomes for clients receiving opioid maintenance pharmacotherapy and for use in treatment evaluation research. The Brief Treatment Outcome Measure (BTOM) standardises data collection from opioid maintenance pharmacotherapy services, providing data on service utilisation, client population profiles, treatment needs, the types of treatment delivered and outcomes achieved.
Treatment outcome is measured by scales developed or adapted from other instruments across the domains of dependence, blood borne virus exposure risk, drug use, health, psychological functioning and social functioning.
The BTOM is typically administered at the commencement of treatment (or intervention, in the case of a research study) and thereafter 3 monthly, in conjunction with case management reviews. It takes on average 15 minutes to administer and can be easily scored by the clinician or researcher. The domains included within the BTOM can act as a checklist of points to be covered in a case management review session.
Results from the 30-month clinical trial and a psychometric evaluation study indicate that the BTOM has good reliability, acceptable validity and is capable of measuring change in treatment outcome. The clients in the clinical trial showed statistically significant improvement in all of the treatment outcome domains. Findings from a survey of clinicians using the BTOM indicate that clinicians approve of the BTOM content and find the instrument to be clinically useful.
Citation: Lawrinson, P., Copeland, J. and Indig, D. (2003) The brief treatment outcome measure: opioid maintenance pharmacotherapy (BTOM) manual, Sydney: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre.