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.

The primary objective of this study was to determine whether parental alcoholism significantly altered intergenerational relationship variables between parents and offspring. The intergenerational variables of fusion/individuation, intimacy, triangulation, intimidation, and personal authority were investigated. One hundred and ninety-five university undergraduates responded to a written questionnaire. Each participant signed a consent form, completed the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST), the Personal Authority in the Family System Questionnaire Version C (PAFS-QVC), and a demographic questionnaire. Based on CAST scores, subjects were divided into 44 Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOAs) and 151 Adult Children of NonAlcoholics (NonACOAs). Demographic data indicated that the overall sample was primarily composed of White, middle class, unmarried, undergraduates with a gender distribution of slightly more females than males. The ACOA group was represented by a two to one ratio of females to males, the majority of alcoholic parents were identified as male, the mean age for the ACOA's first awareness of parental alcoholism was 11.22 years, and the majority of ACOAs recognized parental alcoholism as being disruptive to the home environment. Multivariate analyses revealed that ACOAs differed from nonACOAs on the five dependent variables. Specifically, lower levels of intimacy and triangulation, along with an apparent trend towards lower levels of individuation were found within the parent-child relationship. The independent variables of offspring's gender, offspring's age at earliest awareness of parental alcoholism, offspring’s perceived home effect of parental alcoholism, and nonalcoholics parent's perceived home effect of parental alcoholism did not have a significant impact on the intergenerational dependent variables. / Ph. D.

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No description available.

One hundred and twenty participants (sixty couples) provided reports of their perceptions of the functioning of their families of origin (intimacy, individuation, intimidation, and triangulation), current nuclear family relationships (intimacy, individuation, personal authority, and triangulation), and level of codependence. Sixty of the participants (30 recovering alcoholics and their spouses) formed a clinical group; the remaining sixty (30 matched comparisons and their spouses) formed a comparison group. The participants also provided relevant background information. Chi-square analyses were used to explore the nature of the sample and supported the general comparability of clinical and comparison groups. Analyses of variance were used to investigate potential differences between and within groups with respect to intergenerational functioning and level of codependence. These analyses revealed highly significant differences between clinical and comparison groups, and very few differences between spouses in either group, in terms of intergenerational family functioning and level of codependence. Both correlational analysis and multiple regression were used to explore the relationship of continuous background variables, intergenerational functioning and level of codependence. Codependence within the clinical population is predicted by family of origin factors, whereas within the comparison population it is more likely to be predicted by spousal factors. Nine of the original 60 sixty couples were subsequently involved in a qualitative phase of the study. These couples, reporting varying levels of codependence, participated in semi-structured interviews. The stories told by the high, low and difference in codependence groups were generally congruent with the results of the analysis of the quantitative data. The results of the study generally support the prospects of using Bowen's Family Systems Theory in explaining the various manifestations of family of origin dysfunction, including codependence. The study also clarifies the theoretical connection between evolving notions regarding codependence and the intergenerational family system emotional context. / Ph. D.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

This study attempts to validate the hypothesis that six empirically derived signs will differentiate the alcoholic patient from other clinical groups.

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.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 73-77).

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