Evans Elizabeth, Grella Christine E, Murphy Debra A, Hser Yih-Ing
UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90025, USA.
J Behav Health Serv Res. 2010 Apr;37(2):252-71. doi: 10.1007/s11414-008-9125-3. Epub 2008 Aug 5.
The utilization of administrative data in substance abuse research has become more widespread than ever. This selective review synthesizes recent extant research from 31 articles to consider what has been learned from using administrative data to conduct longitudinal substance abuse research in four overlapping areas: (1) service access and utilization, (2) underrepresented populations, (3) treatment outcomes, and (4) cost analysis. Despite several notable limitations, administrative data contribute valuable information, particularly in the investigation of service system interactions and outcomes among substance abusers as they unfold and influence each other over the long term. This critical assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of using existing administrative data within a longitudinal framework should stimulate innovative thinking regarding future applications of administrative data for longitudinal substance abuse research purposes.
行政数据在药物滥用研究中的应用比以往任何时候都更加广泛。这篇选择性综述综合了31篇文章中最近的现有研究,以探讨在四个重叠领域使用行政数据进行纵向药物滥用研究所学到的内容:(1)服务获取与利用;(2)代表性不足的人群;(3)治疗结果;(4)成本分析。尽管存在一些显著的局限性,但行政数据提供了有价值的信息,特别是在调查药物滥用者之间服务系统的相互作用以及随着时间推移它们如何相互影响和发展方面。对在纵向框架内使用现有行政数据的优缺点进行的这一关键评估,应能激发关于行政数据未来在纵向药物滥用研究中的应用的创新思维。