Staff and Client Attitudes toward Methadone Maintenance

Samples of two client groups, one electing to be treated with methadone maintenance and one electing to be treated on an abstinent basis, were compared with each other and with the staff of the multi-modality setting at which those clients were being treated in terms of their characterizations (1) of an addict on heroin, (2) of an addict who has given up all drugs, and (3) of an addict being maintained on methadone. The Adjective Check List was employed. Each group characterized the addict who has given up all drugs as functioning significantly more effectively than the addict being maintained on methadone, with the latter seen by all groups as functioning significantly more effectively than the addict using heroin. These results suggest that methadone maintenance is not yet fully accepted as a long-term treatment device by clients, even by those clients asking to be placed on methadone, or by the staff that administers such treatment. Several reasons are suggested to explain this phenomenon, and exploration is made of the various techniques administrators might employ to deal with it.