Researchers at the RAND Corporation examined whether there were racial disparities in access to health care, satisfaction with services and perceived quality of life among people participating in substance abuse treatment programs.

When they were not able to obtain data as part of a RAND study of California's Proposition 36 drug possession offender program, researchers analyzed data from a National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded study.

The project was part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's (RWJF) national Substance Abuse Policy Research Program (SAPRP) (for more information see Grant Results).

Key Findings

• African-American and Hispanic substance abusers in methadone treatment reported higher perceived quality of life than did white substance abusers. Higher levels of perceived quality of life were associated with fair or better health, employment, having private health insurance and not sensing barriers to securing health care.
• Viewing the treatment program as a quality program was not significantly associated with perceived quality of life.

Funding
RWJF provided support for the project with a $24,822 solicited grant between August 2002 and July 2004.

The grant was a Diversity Partnership Grant to attract researchers at early stages of their careers who are strong advocates for diversity and/or come from groups that are historically disadvantaged and underrepresented in research.