SOCIAL SUPPORT AND PREVENTION OF RELAPSE FOLLOWING TREATMENT FOR ALCOHOL-ABUSE

All 30 clients who received standard inpatient treatment for alcohol a buse during 1992-93 in the north Tasmanian health region were randomly assigned to an additional social support intervention, to a self-moni toring control intervention, or to a no-additional-treatment control g roup. Results indicated that artificially created social support was i neffective in influencing consumption beyond what was produced by a co mbination of standard out patient follow-up and simple self-monitoring . However the degree of social support available from the most support ive individual in the drinker's naturally occurring social network was the preeminent predictor of drinking over a 3-month interval. Contrar y to the predictions of one cognitive-behavioral approach to relapse p revention, pretreatment measures of client self-efficacy were not asso ciated with drinking at posttreatment.