“Recovery housing helps contribute to improved outcomes, but we lack an evidence base on which and how residence characteristics contribute to these outcomes. Drawing from organizational theory and findings from studies examining organizational and management factors in the delivery of substance use treatment, this study used a multilevel analytic framework to explore the effects of organizational, operational, and program orientation on substance use, employment, and criminal justice outcomes among residents recruited from SLHs in California. Findings regarding the salience of being part of larger group of houses and being affiliated with a treatment program, as well as findings regarding differences by geographic location invite future research to investigate what these factors represent and precisely how they may affect recovery outcomes. This work would be facilitated with a comprehensive recovery housing assessment tool to monitor and study recovery housing similar to those developed for substance use treatment programs as well as specific measures characterizing the therapeutic nature of the environment.”
A Clean and Sober Place to Live: Philosophy, Structure, and Purported Therapeutic Factors in Sober Living Houses
“The call for evidence based practices (EBP’s) in addiction treatment is nearly universal. It is a noteworthy movement in the field because treatment innovations have not always been implemented in community programs. However, other types of community based services that may be essential to sustained recovery have received less attention. This paper suggests sober living houses (SLH’s) are a good example of services that have been neglected in the addiction literature that might help individuals who need an alcohol and drug-free living environment to succeed in their recovery. The paper begins with an overview of the history and philosophy of this modality and then describes our 5-year longitudinal study titled, “An Analysis of Sober Living Houses.” Particular attention is paid to the structure and philosophy of SLH’s and purported therapeutic factors. The paper ends with presentation of baseline data describing the residents who enter SLH’s and 6-month outcomes on 130 residents.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3057870/