The HELP study was a clinical trial for adult inpatients recruited from a detoxification unit. Patients with no primary care physician were randomized to receive a multidisciplinary assessment and a brief motivational intervention or usual care, with the goal of linking them to primary medical care.
data(HELPmiss)Data frame with 470 observations on the following variables.
agesubject age at baseline (in years)
anysubuse of any substance post-detox: a factor with levels no yes
cesdCenter for Epidemiologic Studies Depression measure of depressive symptoms at baseline (higher scores indicate more symptoms)
d1lifetime number of hospitalizations for medical problems (measured at baseline)
daysanysubtime (in days) to first use of any substance post-detox
dayslinktime (in days) to linkage to primary care
drugriskRisk Assessment Battery drug risk scale at baseline
e2bnumber of times in past 6 months entered a detox program (measured at baseline)
female0 for male, 1 for female
sexa factor with levels male female
g1bexperienced serious thoughts of suicide in last 30 days (measured at baseline): a factor with levels no yes
homelesshousing status: a factor with levels housed homeless
i1average number of drinks (standard units) consumed per day, in the past 30 days (measured at baseline)
i2maximum number of drinks (standard units) consumed per day, in the past 30 days (measured at baseline)
avg_drinksaverage number of drinks (standard units) consumed per day, in the
past 30 days (measured at baseline). Same as i1.
max_drinksmaximum number of drinks (standard units) consumed per day, in the
past 30 days (measured at baseline). Same as i2.
idsubject identifier
indtotInventory of Drug Use Consequences (InDUC) total score (measured at baseline)
linkstatuspost-detox linkage to primary care (0 = no, 1 = yes)
linkpost-detox linkage to primary care: no yes
mcsSF-36 Mental Component Score (measured at baseline, higher scores are better)
pcsSF-36 Physical Component Score (measured at baseline, higher scores are better)
pss_frperceived social support by friends (measured at baseline)
racegrprace/ethnicity: levels black hispanic other white
satreatany BSAS substance abuse treatment at baseline: no yes
sexriskRisk Assessment Battery sex risk score (measured at baseline)
substanceprimary substance of abuse: alcohol cocaine heroin
treatrandomized to HELP clinic: no yes
Eligible subjects were adults, who spoke Spanish or English, reported alcohol, heroin or cocaine as their first or second drug of choice, resided in proximity to the primary care clinic to which they would be referred or were homeless. Patients with established primary care relationships they planned to continue, significant dementia, specific plans to leave the Boston area that would prevent research participation, failure to provide contact information for tracking purposes, or pregnancy were excluded.
Subjects were interviewed at baseline during their detoxification stay and follow-up interviews were undertaken every 6 months for 2 years. A variety of continuous, count, discrete, and survival time predictors and outcomes were collected at each of these five occasions.
This dataset is a superset of the HELPrct data with 17 subjects with partially observed data on some of the baseline variables. This is a subset of the HELPfull data which includes 5 timepoints and many additional variables.
Samet JH, Larson MJ, Horton NJ, Doyle K, Winter M, and Saitz R. Linking alcohol and drug-dependent adults to primary medical care: A randomized controlled trial of a multi-disciplinary health intervention in a detoxification unit. Addiction, 2003; 98(4):509-516.
HELPrct , and HELPfull.