Background: Cross-cultural comparisons may increase our understanding of different models of substance use treatment and help identify consistent associations between patients' characteristics, treatment conditions, and outcomes.
Objectives: The aim of the study was to compare matched samples of substance use disorder (SUD) patients with personality disorders (PD) in Swiss and the United States (U.S.) residential SUD treatment programs and examine the relationship of program characteristics to 1-year outcomes.
Methods: A prospective, naturalistic design was used to compare 132 demographically matched Swiss and U.S. male patients drawn from a sample of 10 Swiss and 15 U.S. public treatment programs. Patients completed comparable inventories at admission, discharge, and 1-year follow-up.
Results: Compared to Swiss SUD-PD patients, U.S. SUD-PD patients had more severe substance use and psychosocial problems at admission and follow-up. More intensive treatment and a stronger emphasis on patients' involvement were related to better outcomes for both Swiss and U.S. SUD-PD patients.
Conclusion: There may be some cross-cultural consistency in the associations between treatment characteristics and SUD-PD patients' outcomes.
Scientific significance: Treatment evaluation findings from representative programs in one country may apply elsewhere and contribute to our overall knowledge about how to improve SUD-PD patients' outcomes.