摘要：The high drop-out rate in treatment programmes is one of the most important problems in the area of drug addictions. This
study assessed the effect of the use of incentives on retention in an outpatient programme for cocaine addicts. The effect of
individual variables on programme drop-out was also analyzed. Participants were 66 patients randomly assigned to one of
three treatment groups: standard treatment, treatment with incentives (vouchers) I, and treatment with incentives II. The
patients in the latter two groups received incentives contingent upon cocaine abstinence with two different magnitudes.
Retention rate at six months was 35% in the standard treatment, 78.6% in the treatment with incentives I, and 53.3% in the
treatment with incentives II. Global prognostic capacity of the individual variables (sociodemographic, history and pattern
of use, psychopathological state, and EuropASI scores) was 85.7%, with the psychopathological variables being more
closely related to retention. These results suggest that the use of incentives may be an effective strategy for improving
retention in outpatient treatments for cocaine addiction.
