Thesis (M.H.A.)--University of Michigan, 1969.

Alcoholism is a major health problem, and current methods of treatment have been only partially successful. One treatment approach is to teach coping skills for dealing with problematic situations. This study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of imagery techniques in teaching coping skills. There were two major objectives of this study. The first objective was to determine whether covert skills training would produce positive changes in alcoholics in terms of their effectiveness in responding to stressful situations, their self-concept, and selected personality characteristics. The second objective was to determine whether alcoholics subjectively experience the imagery approach as beneficial. The statistical design also evaluated whether the effectiveness of the treatment fluctuated as a function of age, education, chronicity of alcohol problem, number of rehabilitation attempts, and environmental support as measured by the presence of a family or job awaiting the alcoholic's return.

M.A. (Social Work) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. (Social Work) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. (Social Work) / The treatment of alcoholism is/provided for by many institutions. Social work is one of the disciplines directly involved and responsible for the treatment of alcoholics. One of a number of problems inherent to service delivering to alcoholics is the problem of premature termination of treatment. In this study the occurrence of premature termination at the West Rand Clinic of the South African National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence is determined and the effect of premature termination of the treatment programme on the alcoholic is explored. To this end, patient files for the period January 1984 to December 1984 are examined. Four groups were identified on the basis of time spend in the treatment programme and stratified samples were drawn from these groups. A telephone schedule, based on relevant literature and the researcher's professional experience, was compiled and interviews were conducted to explore the effect of premature termination on the alcoholic. The findings of the study are summarized in the following conclusions : - The premature termination rate at the West Rand Clinic is congruent with findings of similar research. - Patients who terminated treatment prematurely reported lower levels of well~being than patients-who completed treatment.

The present study is concerned with pre-treatment dropouts in an outpatient alcoholism treatment clinic. Previous pre-treatment dropout studies have been made in settings where there is one intake session followed by a treatment program. In the setting of the present study, however, there is an extended intake process, consisting of three (and occasionally four) group intake sessions followed by a session of staffing and then treatment. This study, therefore, differs from previous investigations, in that it considers as "pre-treatment dropouts," those clients who drop out at any point during the intake process, rather than just those clients who do not appear for treatment following an intake session. For purposes of orientation, we begin with a discussion of the problem of alcoholism and the process of intake.

The purpose of the study was to compare behavior patterns of alcoholics before and after they stopped drinking. Specifically, changes in the interactions of thinking, feeling, and acting behavior components of two groups of recovering, non-relapsed, alcoholics with 6 months or less and a third group with 5 or more years of sobriety were analyzed. The study used TFA Systems™, an integrated and multidisciplinary theoretical model, to discern factors related to stopping drinking and maintaining sobriety. Research methodology included purposeful sampling from AA, residential, and outpatient substance abuse centers. The Hutchins' Behavior Inventory (HBI) was used to assess behavior in high risk drinking situations for: (a) before starting to drink behavior [Group 1]; (b) 6 months or less of short-term sobriety behavior [Group 2]; and (c) 5 years or more sobriety behavior [Group 3]. Results were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative methods. Responses from a structured interview were analyzed using methods from the TFA/HBI Analytic Guide and the askSam data management system. The short-term recovery groups differed in demographic factors from the group with 5 or more years of sobriety. Past drinking behavior was characterized with a Feeling-Acting-Thinking (F-A-T) sequential orientation. Those with six months or less sobriety had a Feeling-Thinking-Acting (F-T-A) orientation. People with five or more years of sobriety had a Thinking-Feeling-Acting (T-F-A) orientation with integrated and nearly balanced TFA triads. Qualitative measures indicated that with longer sobriety anticipatory thoughts about drinking changed to thoughts of positive alternatives and positive self-focus. Results suggested that the first change to begin in recovery is to shift negative action toward positive thinking behavior. The next change appeared to occur in learning to integrate feelings and actions. Maintenance tasks appeared to focus on integrating and balancing all behavior components. How the TFA model met the need for a client adaptable and integrated model with assessment methods across phases of recovery was discussed. / Ph. D.

This thesis explores the nature of responses to problems associated with drinking and drunkenness. The aim is to consider how perceptions and responses to the issue have changed over time, and, crucially, to analyze the implications of the resulting evidence for policy and practice. There are two interdependent issues which the thesis seeks to expose and debate. First there is the process of emergence, the historical development of alcohol abuse as a social problem. It is possible to see in the historical record the continuities and (just as importantly) the discontinuities of responses to drinking behaviour from the Industrial Revolution to the present day. it is important to realise that some important aspects of contemporary explanations of problem drinking are in fact 'hangovers' from an earlier tradition and, in particular, from the Temperance response to alcohol problems. Ultimately, however, this is a thesis about the practice of managing contemporary alcohol related problems. It is about how the modern institutional network of criminal justice, medical, and social welfare agencies perceive and respond to problem drinking in Scotland. How do police officers, procurators fiscal, magistrates, doctors, and social workers view problem drinking? How do they respond to the problem drinker? The thesis then is about attempts to control, treat, and/or rehabilitate deviant drinkers, but it is also about the attitudes, perceptions, and experiences of the individuals whose job it is to realise policy as practice. In as much as it is based on the belief that in order to understand the modern system of management of the problem, it is necessary to understand how 'alcoholism' came to be defined as a social problem in the first place, the analysis is informed by perspectives and concepts that have been developed in the sociology of social problems. Chapter I considers the main features of this analytical framework and outlines the structure of the thesis.

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