Outpatient rehab facilities are one of many different types of addiction treatment programs available to people who suffer from alcoholism or drug addiction. They are generally about a month in length, though they can last as long as a year. Research has shown that treatment programs which are at least 90 days long are the most effective, according to the rates of long-term addiction recovery.

A study by the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program in Oakland, California set out to discover patients’ motivations for being involved with an outpatient rehab center for a period of a year or longer. They discovered that men and women have different reasons for remaining in addiction treatment program long-term. The biggest reason why men chose to finish a year-long rehab program was because they were at risk of losing their jobs if they quit. On the other hand, women cited their families as the biggest influence causing them to stay.

There were some other factors that proved to be significant indicators of whether individuals would compete the entire year of addiction treatment. Those who had more severe drug addiction problems or used cocaine were more likely to quit. Men over the age of forty had a higher rate of completion, and men who desired to attain abstinence rather than moderation were also more likely to finish.

This is one of many recent studies which show that men and women handle drug and alcohol addiction, as well as rehab programs to treat addiction, in different ways. It is the first research to look at this particular aspect of the issue, however. It involved 599 men and 317 women in programs that focused on abstinence from drugs and alcohol.

The hope is that these findings will help people predict who is most likely to quit an addiction treatment program and make efforts to prevent that.