Disadvantageous decision-making as a predictor of drop-out among cocaine-dependent individuals in long-term residential treatment Stevens, Laura Betanzos Espinosa, Patricia Vergara Moragues, Esperanza Lozano, Óscar González Saiz, Francisco Verdejo García, Antonio Javier Pérez García, Miguel Decision-making Drop-out Treatment retention Addiction treatment outcomes Cocaine dependence Background: The treatment of cocaine-dependent individuals (CDI) is substantially challenged by high drop-out rates, raising questions regarding contributing factors. Recently, a number of studies have highlighted the potential of greater focus on the clinical significance of neurocognitive impairments in treatment-seeking cocaine users. In the present study, we hypothesized that disadvantageous decision-making would be one such factor placing CDI at greater risk for treatment drop-out. Methods: In order to explore this hypothesis, the present study contrasted baseline performance (at treatment onset) on two validated tasks of decision-making, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and the Cambridge GambleTask (CGT) in CDI who completed treatment in a residentialTherapeutic Community (TC) (N=66) and those who dropped out ofTC prematurely (N=84). Results: Compared to treatment completers, CDI who dropped out ofTC prematurely did not establish a consistent and advantageous response pattern as the IGT progressed and exhibited a poorer ability to choose the most likely outcome on the CGT. There were no group differences in betting behavior. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that neurocognitive rehabilitation of disadvantageous decision-making may have clinical benefits in CDI admitted to long-term residential treatment programs. 2021-05-21T08:26:25Z 2021-05-21T08:26:25Z 2013-11-15 journal article Stevens L, Betanzos-Espinosa P, Crunelle CL, Vergara-Moragues E, Roeyers H, Lozano O, Dom G, Gonzalez-Saiz F, Vanderplasschen W, Verdejo-García A and Pérez-García M (2013) Disadvantageous decision-making as a predictor of drop-out among cocaine-dependent individuals in long-term residential treatment. Front. Psychiatry 4:149. doi: [10.3389/fpsyt.2013.00149] http://hdl.handle.net/10481/68608 10.3389/fpsyt.2013.00149 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ open access Atribución 3.0 España Frontiers Research Foundation