No description available.

Recovery from alcohol problems without treatment is a subject that has received little attention in the addictions literature. This study used media advertising to solicit people who had resolved a drinking problem on their own. The research used a semi-structured interview as a basis for a qualitative analysis of the phenomenon of recovery without treatment. Attention was focused on reasons offered for resolving a problem and factors involved in maintenance of that resolution. Rccovery methods used by these subjects are compared with those commonly recommended by most treatment programs, including Alcoholics Anonymous. The issues of labelling and acceptance are also discussed.

No description available.

The Community-Oriented Programs Environment Scale (COPES), Form I, which asks clients about their expectations of an ideal treatment environment, was administered to 51 dropouts and 151 completers who began a four-week inpatient programme for alcoholics. A discriminant analysis did not reveal significant differences between dropouts and completers on the COPES subscales. It was concluded that this instrument may not be a useful early predictor of dropouts. Estimations of expectation disconfirmation were derived for each client by calculating the difference between the client's subscale scores on Form I of the COPES and the therapist's subscale scores on Form R of the COPES (which asks about perceptions of the real treatment environment). Comparison of dropouts and completers in terms of these difference scores indicated that this information was also not useful for the early prediction of dropouts. The results are related to previous findings in the literature on client expectations and dropping out of treatment. The potential utility of conventional approaches to the prediction of dropouts is questioned. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

One of the purposes of the study was to obtain information on how family members' perceptions of the family's homeostasis changes over time as the family passes from a crisis period through a transition phase from a wet (drinking) to a dry (non-drinking) state. In addition, the study examined the impact that changes in the family system may have on maintaining a dry state after the completion of an alcoholism treatment program that involved family members. Twenty families participated in the study. Family members completed instruments that measured family cohesion, adaptability, dynamics, satisfaction, and family/social functioning at three different measurement occasions. Those measurement occasions were at the beginning (Time 1) and completion (Time 2) of a family treatment program for alcoholism, and at a month follow-up (Time 3). The primary test for each hypothesis was a repeated measures analysis of variance where the within subject factor was the measurement occasions (Time). In general, the results of the study suggested that a month follow-up, the families were still in a disrupted state of homeostasis as reflected in the scores for adaptability, cohesion, and dynamics. However, the findings of the study indicated that the families were more satisfied with the family system at the time of follow-up than at the beginning of a family program. In addition, family members reported being more involved in activities with each other at the follow-up period than at the start of a family program.

This study investigated demographic and personality variables, that counselors used in the selection of alcoholics for long term treatment and compared the completion rate for this group against completion rates reported in past studies, in order to determine if certain personality variables are associated with completion. The MMPI, Survey of Drinking Patterns and Effects, and a demographic questionnaire was administered to 355 lower class and "skid row" inpatient alcoholics from a North Tucson alcoholism treatment center. Results showed that counselors selection judgements approximated the characteristics of alcoholics who had completed long term treatment programs in past studies. Completion rates for this group studied were found to be moderately high compared to past studies. It was concluded that certain biographical and psychological variables can be used as selection criteria for determining alcoholics long term treatment completion. Implications for these findings are discussed.

No description available.

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

M.A. / The present investigation aims to provide a profile of the social factors, which may have an influence on the relapse of alcoholics. The following questions are to be answered in the study: (a) Which social risk factors play a role in the relapse of alcoholics? (b) Are these factors related to the alcoholic’s immediate environment or wider societal factors? (c) What role does the alcoholic’s anonymous service or lack thereof play? The five relapsed alcoholic patients who went for outpatient for several times, at SANCA in Johannesburg and the five family members comprise the research sample. To each of these clients the researcher administered an interview schedule in order to obtain information pertaining to the relapse. The majority of clients are unemployed because they were retrenched from their work due to their relapse rates. Most clients have one or more family members who are alcoholic. Most clients are apparently socially isolated from their families. Most clients fail to complete the defined treatment programmes at SANCA in Johannesburg due to the distance they have to travel from Alexandra to Johannesburg. From the findings pertaining to the staff in the investigation it is revealed that Social Workers are the professionals most involved in rendering out-patient treatment to alcoholics. In conclusion it is proposed that administrators of out-patient alcoholism clinics expend more energy in structuring comprehensive programmes of intervention for clients. It is also recommended that there be more Social Workers in Alexandra dealing with the problems of alcoholics. There must be an Alcoholics Anonymous and a treatment centre in Alexandra so that the relapse rate of alcoholics must go down. / Dr. W. Roestenburg