Alcohol research

AA Ideology Among Alcohol Treatment Directors, Boscarino J, British Journal of Addiction, Vol.75, 65-71, 1980

“Summary

Mail-return questionnaires were used to test the hypothesis that Alcohol Treatment Center (ATC) directors who scored high on A.A. ideology would evaluate A.A. more favourably, would recommend that a broader range of problem-drinker types affiliate with A.A., and would come from institutions which afford more A.A. activities. Analysis of the data confirmed all aspects of this hypothesis. Implications are suggested.

Alcohol Treatment Centers (ATCs) offer a wide range of treatment services for the alcoholic patient. At a broad level, these services can be classified into diagnosis, referral, and treatment. The types of treatments found in these settings include such things as individual psychotherapy, group therapy, family counselling, behavior modification, and chemotherapy. One of the most common types of treatment services offered by these facilities is the activities of Alcoholics Anonymous.* In 1978 A.A. claimed an estimated membership of about1,000,000 worldwide in 30,000 groups. Of this, about 670,000 members were in the U.S. in 20,000 groups, including 1,400 groups in hospitals and 1,250 in correctional institutions (2).

The ubiquity of A.A. activities in ATCs has also been confirmed by other research (3). This latter study discovered that 96 per cent of all ATCs surveyed reported the use of some type of A.A. activity. The kinds of A.A. activities used by these facilities were: having A.A. meetings on the premises (64%); having outside A.A. speakers coming in (48%); having patients attend outside A.A. meetings while patients at facility (66%); recommending families attend Al-Anon or Al-Ateen meetings (8%); having 'A.A. counselors' coming in (50%); and other A.A. Activities (16%). In addition, 73 per cent of these ATCs recommended that 75 per cent or more of their patient population attend A.A. while patients or after they left the facility. It appears reasonable to assert, therefore, that A.A. is a major treatment modality employed in ATCs for the treatment of alcoholic patients. It is also reasonable to expect, because of the widespread use of A.A. activities in these facilities, that A.A. philosophy has a major influence in these facilities.”

See also Links and downloads

PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here

 

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