An Evaluation of a Structured Alcohol Treatment Programme for Dependent Drinkers

The current research examined the effectiveness of a structured intervention for dependent drinkers, in doing so it examined three main issues: 1. The impact of waiting times on effective engagement into treatment and whether longer periods of waiting is associated with ’natural recovery’ without structured treatment. 2. The impact of a pre-treatment induction group and whether this is associated with better outcomes and a higher likelihood of completing treatment. 3. The effectiveness of a multimodal treatment programme for dependent alcohol service users and whether completion of the programme is associated with better outcomes at the end of the programme and at 6 months’ follow-up. Results: Service users who waited more than 21 days to commence treatment did the same on a number of different treatment outcome measures as service users who commenced treatment within 21 days. Service users who waited 21 days or more to commence treatment were not more likely to drop out of treatment than service users who commenced treatment within 21 days. Service users who completed the Induction Group (IG) didn’t do any better on post treatment outcomes than non-IG completers Service users who completed the Induction Group were more likely to complete treatment successfully. Service users who had not completed the Induction Group were twice as likely to drop out Treatment Service users who completed the structured intervention did significantly better than the non- completers on the outcomes Conclusions: The impact of waiting times on engagement in to treatment remains unclear. There is evidence that a pre-treatment intervention helps to retain service users in treatment. There is evidence that a multimodal structured treatment for alcohol dependency is effective pre-to post on outcomes, with treatment benefits maintained at 6 months follow up.