Legal involvement and substance use treatment engagement and outcomes

ABSTRACT Legally mandated substance use treatment is prevalent but controversial and further research aimed at understanding this relationship is important for developing and informing social policy, social work practice, and education. This study used clinical data mining to examine the relationship between a client’s legal involvement, treatment engagement, and treatment completion. By using structural equation modeling, this study found that legal involvement did not have an effect on clients’ engagement in treatment or on completing treatment, while engagement was shown to have an effect on whether the client completed treatment.