The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships of client pretreatment characteristics to treatment outcome (measured in terms of alcohol drinking behaviour 1 year after treatment) of 141 male alcoholics admitted to an alcoholism treatment center in British Columbia during the past 3 years. Data gathered prior to treatment included: (a) Demographic data: (i) Age, (ii) Level of Education, (iii) Marital Status; (b) Psychological test data: (i) Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, (ii) Edwards Personal Preference Schedule, (iii) Sixteen Personality Factors Questionnaire, (iv) Alcohol Addiction Test, (v) Shipley-Institute of Living Scale; and (c) Duration of Treatment data. The outcome classifications (successes and failures) were based on information from letters, cards, and phone calls made by former clients to their counsellors during the criterion time-period, as well as through return visits made by clients to confirm sobriety, and finally through employer and grapevine reports. The t-test for significance of differences between means was conducted on the variables, Age, Level of Education, and Duration of Treatment, while the Chi-square test of independence was conducted on the variable Marital Status. The psychological test data were put into proportional form with an ArcSin transformation, so that the unique amounts of variance contributed by each variable to the total.could be properly compared. Discriminant analysis in two steps was then performed on the psychological test data, seeking to discover those variables which contributed significantly to discrimination between the outcome groups in a predictive sense. The variables chosen by the discriminant process were then correlated among one another in order to illustrate the nature of relationships of each scale (variable) to the others. Results showed that there were no statistically significant differences for any of the demographic variables, and similarly for the 'duration of treatment' variable. However, the discriminant analysis procedures revealed four psychological variables (scales) that maximally discriminated between outcome groups, and when considered together, explained 19% of the total variance on the criterion measure, and correctly classified 68.1% of the cases. These four variables were scales 'PA' (Paranoia), 'MA' (Hypomania), and 'SI' (Social Introversion) from the MMPI, and scale 'N' (Forthright vs. Shrewd) from the 16 PF. Correlations among these scales revealed a low, with definite but small relationship between scales 'MA' and 'PA' (r =0.37, p < .001), 'PA' and 'SA' (r = 0.30, p < .001), and a slight, almost negligible relationship between scales 'MA' and 'N' (r = -0.16, p < .026). Correlations between 'MA' and 'SI', 'SI' and 'N', and 'N' and 'PA' were not significant. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

No description available.

The Office of Programs for Alcohol and Drug Problems is the designated "Single State Authority" for the planning and development of alcohol and drug programs. It is within the State Mental Health Division, and is the interface between the Division, the counties, and the federal government with regard to alcohol and drug programs. The Division's Office of Management Support Services (MSS) is charged with the responsibility of developing an evaluation system for programs. This is being done in regard to the needs of programs and decision-makers concerned with programs. The Program Office is now providing input to MSS largely through this practicum paper, and through the involvement of the author with staff of MSS and the Division's Task Force on Evaluation Systems. The goal of the practicum, and the involvement with MSS, which will continue, is to assist in the development of an evaluation system that will enable the Program Office to better perform the tasks of assessing programs, and planning for this further development. While the subject is beyond the scope of this paper, such an evaluation system would be useful to individuals, organizations, and high level decision-makers outside the Program Office. For an evaluation system to be of use to the Program Office (or the other decision makers involved with alcohol and drug programs), it must provide systematic information regarding the extent to which the alcohol and drug service system and elements within it are able to: Identify the problems of potential clientele; Assign or establish goals which clients may realistically be helped to attain; and Provide treatment or services which enable them to reach their goals. Beyond answering process oriented questions such as these, the system must develop information concerning the impact, on the lives of clients, and on the community, of the services. It must provide this feedback in a way that is usable to programs so they may alter approaches to client problems, to the Program Office, and to the hierarchy of government officials responsible for programs.

This study investigates the differential treatment efficacy of Experiential Systemic Therapy (ExST) with a comparison treatment called Supported Feedback Therapy (SFT) as it is applied to the problem of alcohol dependency. The inquiry also compares the treatment effectiveness of ExST when offered to the individual alcoholic (ExST-I) and when provided in couples therapy conjoint treatment (ExST-C). An ecological approach to assessment was developed for the investigation. Selfreport questionnaires tapping an array of areas including indices of alcohol use, intrapersonal functioning, couples adjustment, and family characteristics were employed to measure treatment effects from the perspectives of father, mother, and eldest child. Participating families met inclusion criteria including an alcoholic dependent father and a non-alcohol abusing mother in a state of marital distress residing in an intact family situation with at least one child living at home. One hundred and fourteen families were randomly assigned to participating therapists and one of three treatment conditions including ExST-I, ExST-C,or SFT. Therapy was conducted at two out-patient clinics, one located in an urban setting and the other operating in a rural context. Data were collected from all participating families before and after treatment. Data were also gathered at a three month follow-up from participants in the ExST-I and ExST-C treatment conditions. The results of the mixed model multivariate analyses indicated that there were no significant differences between ExST and SFT evident at post-treatment; however, both treatments were found to have promoted highly significant improvements on measures of drinking behavior, intrapersonal symptomology, marital adjustment and family satisfaction. When ExST-I and ExST-C were compared, the results revealed no significant differences between the treatment formats although both parents reported highly significant post treatment changes on all instruments. Additionally, the significant changes associated with ExST-I and ExST-C which were reported by both parents at post-treatment were found to be equally durable at the end of a three month follow-up. The results of the analyses based on the eldest child’s perspective showed that the assessments of family satisfaction were unaffected by the treatment conditions and remained consistent across all measurement occasions. Within system analyses which provided detailed examination of the magnitude of changes reported by both parents at post-treatment were performed. The within system results based on measures probing the assessment domains of alcohol, intrapersonal, couple and family from the father and mother perspectives, revealed that the improvements achieved by the treatments were far reaching and touched a wide array of areas in statistically significant and clinically relevant fashions.

This study investigates the differential treatment efficacy of Experiential Systemic Therapy (ExST) with a comparison treatment called Supported Feedback Therapy (SFT) as it is applied to the problem of alcohol dependency. The inquiry also compares the treatment effectiveness of ExST when offered to the individual alcoholic (ExST-I) and when provided in couples therapy conjoint treatment (ExST-C). An ecological approach to assessment was developed for the investigation. Selfreport questionnaires tapping an array of areas including indices of alcohol use, intrapersonal functioning, couples adjustment, and family characteristics were employed to measure treatment effects from the perspectives of father, mother, and eldest child. Participating families met inclusion criteria including an alcoholic dependent father and a non-alcohol abusing mother in a state of marital distress residing in an intact family situation with at least one child living at home. One hundred and fourteen families were randomly assigned to participating therapists and one of three treatment conditions including ExST-I, ExST-C,or SFT. Therapy was conducted at two out-patient clinics, one located in an urban setting and the other operating in a rural context. Data were collected from all participating families before and after treatment. Data were also gathered at a three month follow-up from participants in the ExST-I and ExST-C treatment conditions. The results of the mixed model multivariate analyses indicated that there were no significant differences between ExST and SFT evident at post-treatment; however, both treatments were found to have promoted highly significant improvements on measures of drinking behavior, intrapersonal symptomology, marital adjustment and family satisfaction. When ExST-I and ExST-C were compared, the results revealed no significant differences between the treatment formats although both parents reported highly significant post treatment changes on all instruments. Additionally, the significant changes associated with ExST-I and ExST-C which were reported by both parents at post-treatment were found to be equally durable at the end of a three month follow-up. The results of the analyses based on the eldest child’s perspective showed that the assessments of family satisfaction were unaffected by the treatment conditions and remained consistent across all measurement occasions. Within system analyses which provided detailed examination of the magnitude of changes reported by both parents at post-treatment were performed. The within system results based on measures probing the assessment domains of alcohol, intrapersonal, couple and family from the father and mother perspectives, revealed that the improvements achieved by the treatments were far reaching and touched a wide array of areas in statistically significant and clinically relevant fashions. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate