Who attends recovery high schools after substance use treatment? A descriptive analysis of school aged youth

May 1, 2018Journal of substance abuse treatment

Which young people go to recovery high schools after substance use treatment?

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Abstract

Students enrolled in recovery high schools (RHSs) (n = 171) reported higher rates of pre-treatment drug use and past mental health treatment than those in a national comparison sample (n = 12,967).

RHS students are predominantly 86% White and 51% male.
Compared to local students not enrolled in RHSs, RHS students had higher rates of reported risk factors for substance use.
RHS students showed elevated levels of post-treatment physical health problems compared to their peers in the national sample.
These findings indicate that RHSs cater to adolescents with more significant co-occurring issues than the average youth in substance use disorder treatment.
The programming at RHSs may need to address the complex risk profiles of their student population.

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Recovery high schools (RHSs) are an alternative high school option for adolescents with substance use disorders (SUDs), designed to provide a recovery-focused learning environment. The aims of this study were to examine the characteristics of youth who choose to attend RHSs, and to compare them with local and national comparison samples of youth in recovery from SUDs who were not enrolled in RHSs. We conducted secondary analysis of existing data to compare characteristics of youth in three samples: (1) adolescents with SUDs who enrolled in RHSs in Minnesota, Texas, and Wisconsin after discharge from treatment (RHSs; n = 171, 51% male, 86% White, 4% African American, 5% Hispanic); (2) a contemporaneously recruited local comparison sample of students with SUDs who did not enroll in RHSs (n = 123, 60% male, 77% White, 5% African American, 12% Hispanic); and (3) a national comparison sample of U.S. adolescents receiving SUD treatment (n = 12,967, 73% male, 37% White, 15% African American, 30% Hispanic). Students enrolled in RHSs had elevated levels of risk factors for substance use and relapse relative to both the local and national comparison samples. For instance, RHS students reported higher rates of pre-treatment drug use, past mental health treatment, and higher rates of post-treatment physical health problems than adolescents in the national comparison sample. We conclude that RHSs serve a population with greater co-occurring problem severity than the typical adolescent in SUD treatment; programming offered at RHSs should attend to these complex patterns of risk factors. SUD service delivery policy should consider RHSs as an intensive recovery support model for the most high-risk students with SUDs.

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