Discounting of employment opportunities with urine drug testing requirements in opioid users enrolled in the Therapeutic Workplace

Background: The evidence-based Therapeutic Workplace (TWP) is a promising employment-based treatment where access to work is contingent on objective evidence of abstinence from drugs. TWP is sometimes criticized for requiring individuals who use drugs to voluntarily enroll in a program requiring urine drug testing.

Objective: This experiment was conducted to assess whether urine drug testing as a condition of employment decreases the value of employment opportunities and to what degree.

Methods: Participants were unemployed, DSM-IV opioid-dependent, and enrolled in TWP. Participants completed discounting tasks assessing preference for a hypothetical job paying a constant wage that did not require urine drug testing and a job that paid a variable wage but required drug testing. The primary outcome was 'job value' operationalized as percentage wage difference to accept a job requiring urine drug testing.

Results: Percent wage difference to accept a job that required urine testing was analyzed using GEE. Results revealed a significant main effect of recent drug use (χ²(1) = 10.07, p < .01).

Conclusion: Most participants were willing to accept a urine drug-testing job across wages similar non-drug testing jobs. Participants reporting recent cocaine or heroin use were less likely to choose urine drug-testing employment.