Seeking help for an addiction?

Addiction Advisor .co.uk is the leading online provider of free medical information about drug and alcohol addiction issues. You can receive independent, expert advice on addictions rehab and treatment by telephoning Addiction Advisor on 0845 370 0102

Alcohol detox clinic

Alcohol detox clinic

A study was conducted for the Journal of Addictive Behaviour in order to assess the effectiveness of family intervention in encouraging patients in an alcohol detox clinic to seek aftercare following their treatment.

O'Farrell, Murphy and Alter developed a brief family treatment (BFT) intervention, which consisted of meeting with the patient and a member of their family that lived with them (typically their spouse or parent) in order to recommend potential aftercare plans for the patient. This group was then compared to those individuals who had been resident in an A HREF="http://www.dryoutnow.com">Alcohol Detox Clinic without any sort of family intervention.

Meta-analytic reviews have indicated that involving a patient’s family in the patient’s recovery is an effective means to promote recovery from alcoholism (O'Farrell and Fals-Stewart, 2001). However, most programmes that employ family treatment methods can be fairly lengthy and so the researchers wished to investigate the effectiveness of a more practical method of family involvement – the brief family treatment intervention.

Promoting continued treatment after inpatient detox is important for the severely dependent patients, and has been indicative of longer term abstinence. Brief family intervention during inpatient treatment may promote this goal of continued aftercare.

Participants were 28 males aged between 21 and 65 years old who were taking part in a residential alcohol detox. 14 were provided with a brief family treatment intervention, and 14 were not. Entry to aftercare post-detox and aftercare attendance was monitored using the patient’s electronic medical record, and also by interviewing the patient and family member 3 months after the detox ended. Entry to aftercare post-detox was defined as the patient having a least one day of outpatient counselling or residential aftercare within 30 days of discharge from detox. Aftercare attendance was the number of days on which a patient had an outpatient counselling visit or was in residential aftercare for substance abuse during the 3-month period following discharge from inpatient detoxification. Patients were also monitored for the amount of times they used alcohol in the 30 day post-detox period.

The results showed that those who received a brief family treatment intervention were more likely to enter an aftercare programme in the 30 days following detox than those who did not receive the intervention. Nearly twice the proportion of intervention cases (79%) than non-intervention cases (43%) entered aftercare. The results also showed that of those that did take up aftercare, those in the intervention group attended aftercare sessions on more days in the 3 month period following attendance at the alcohol detox clinic than non-intervention cases. The results also indicated that those who received the intervention used alcohol on fewer days in the 3 months post-detox than those without the intervention.

Regardless of whether the patient received an intervention or not, those patients who started aftercare in the 30 day period following detox, compared to those who did not, drank on significantly fewer days in the 3 months after detox, highlighting the importance of an effective aftercare programme.

Reference:

O’Farrell, T.J., Murphy, M, and Alter, J. (2007). Brief Family Treatment Intervention to Promote Aftercare Among Male Substance Abusing Patients in Inpatient Detoxification: A Quasi-Experimental Pilot Study. Addictive Behaviour, 32(8).

Published by Addiction Advisor on 04/08/2011.

Other Addictions Stories

• Binge eaters likely to suffer from other addictions
• Handling individuals who misuse drugs
• Individuals can become addicted to pain medications
• Constant source of new drugs fuels addiction
• Reward criminals for doing well when giving up drugs
• Preventing drug use in the workplace is a concern for employers
• Personality changes caused by drug addiction
• Research into dealing with stress post treatment
• Mexxy a new street drug in the UK
• Detailed information assists drug rehabilitation
• Teenagers more vulnerable to effects of cocaine
• Social networking sites more addictive than alcohol and tobacco
• US Social Media site for recovering addicts
• Dutch heroin addicts using Scottish rehab clinc
• Drug use in the news
• The link between crime and addiction
• Detoxing abroad via a holistic approach
• Anticipation of detox steps can be daunting
• Video Games Addiction
• Exercise can reduce Cannabis Use