The implementation of an evaluation system for drug-user’s treatment
programs is a necessity for all institutional managements dealing with
this problem. A systematic evaluation allows the strengthening and the
permanent specialization of human resources in order to offer an improved
attention according to the profile and necessities of each patient. Due
to difficulties appear when trying to measure objectively the effectiveness
of treatment in community therapy, a valid method based on the
integrating paradigm of neuropsychology is offered. The proposed
methodology consists on estimating the neurocognitive profile of substance
dependent patients, that will be updated at intervals and will
depend on the time necessary to obtain observable results; for example,
in different stages of the assisted mechanisms (Admission: pretest and
Social Reintegration: posttest). To obtain our objective the neuropsychological
profile of the functions of attention span, memory, gnosis, praxis,
language, emotion, and executive functions (planning, decision making,
inhibitions, working memory, selective attention, theory of mind and
cognitive flexibility) will be measured in each patient according to standardized
test application. The variation between the scores obtained in
the pretest and the posttest would give an indication of the effectiveness
of the therapeutic program.