Reason for cessation of AOD treatment
Clients can leave alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment for a range of reasons. In the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment National Minimum Data Set (AODTS NMDS), reasons for clients no longer receiving treatment from an AOD treatment service are referred to as the ‘reason for cessation’ and include:
Expected/planned completion | Ended due to unplanned completion | Referred to another service/change in treatment mode |
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Annual reporting of the AODTS NMDS indicates that most treatment episodes provided to clients for cannabis end with an expected/planned completion, accounting for almost 2 in 3 (62%) episodes in 2021–22 (AIHW 2023).
Process analysis by episode reason for cessation
Process analysis describes the flow of treatment episodes provided to clients who received treatment for cannabis, by key treatment characteristics. The analysis includes all treatment episodes provided to clients, including those who received multiple episodes over the study period. For more information, see What is process analysis?
Process analysis by reason for cessation (leaving treatment) indicated that treatment pathways differed for clients who received treatment for cannabis only compared with those who received treatment for cannabis and another PDOC (Table 3.12).
Of treatment episodes provided to clients who:
- Only received treatment for cannabis, 3 in 4 initial treatment episodes (75%) involved an expected/planned completion. For most of these planned completion episodes, no subsequent treatment episodes were received in the study period (71% of episodes).
- Received treatment for cannabis and another PDOC, 3 in 5 initial episodes (59%) involved an expected/planned completion and 1 in 5 (21%) ended with an unplanned completion. Over half (55%) of all initial episodes that ended as planned were followed by a subsequent treatment with expected/planned completion (Table 3.12).
Trace analysis of pathways by reason for cessation
Traces display the most common treatment pathways among clients who received treatment for cannabis, by key treatment characteristics. The traces represent sequences of treatment episodes in the order in which clients received treatment within the study period. For more information, see What is trace explorer analysis?
Trace analysis indicated that there were around 17,000 client pathways characterised by varying patterns of reasons for leaving treatment among clients who had received treatment for cannabis from 2013–14 to 2021–22. Treatment pathways varied by cohort (Figure 14; Table 3.13).
Figure 14: Treatment pathways for clients who received treatment for cannabis, by reason for cessation, cohort, and age group, sex, or remoteness area, 2013–14 to 2021–22
This figure shows traces for AODTS clients who received treatment for cannabis from 2013-14 to 2021-22 by reason for cessation of episode. The 5 most common pathways are broken down by age, sex, and remoteness. A toggle is available to view the traces by different cohorts, "Cannabis ever", "Cannabis only", and "Cannabis and other" and different measures, "Number of clients", "Per cent", and "Cumulative per cent".
For clients who only received treatment for cannabis, almost 2 in 3 (62%) treatment pathways involved either one or 2 episodes ending with a planned completion (Figure 14; Table 3.13). This was similar by age group and sex but differed by remoteness area. For people living in Remote and very remote areas, the most common treatment pathways reflected the overall pattern (that is, one or 2 episodes ended as expected/planned completions), while for those living in Major cities (72% of clients), Inner regional areas (69%) and Outer regional areas (70%) ended with either, one episode as an expected/planned completion or one as an unplanned completion.
For those who received treatment for cannabis and another PDOC, the most common pathways for leaving treatment involved either 2 or 3 episodes ending with expected/planned completion, accounting for only 15% of clients. This pattern was similar by age group and sex but differed by remoteness area. For those living in Major cities, Inner regional areas, and Remote and Very remote areas, the most common pathways were consistent with the overall pattern (that is, 2 or 3 episodes ending with an expected/ planned completion). For those living in Outer regional areas, the most common pathways were either 2 episodes ending with expected/planned completions (10% of clients), or one episode with an expected/ planned completion followed by a second episode ending due to unplanned completion (4.7%) (Figure 14; Table 3.13).
AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) (2023) Alcohol and other drug treatment services in Australia annual report, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 1 March 2024.