Volunteer assistance in the treatment of chronic alcoholism

Chronic alcoholics often have great difficulty in adjusting their lifestyle to accommodate the goals agreed upon in treatment. A id-week behavioral se lf-management program, which emphasized creating lifestyle changes in the c ommunity, was offered to 193 clients. To assist in the process of treatment delivery, half of the clients were offered the support of trained communit y volunteers during the treatment program. To give volunteers a time period in which to to meet and start working with their clients, only those clien ts who completed at least the first 4 weeks of the 16-week program (N = 106 ) were included in the evaluation. Independent follow-up was conducted over a 12-month period. A significant reduction in alcohol consumption was foun d for clients of both the volunteer-support (VS; N = 52) and the office-bas ed (OB; N = 54) groups; this reduction was maintained over the 12 months of review, with no major differences found between groups. Volunteers rated h igh on particular characteristics assisted the client more effectively duri ng treatment than those rated low. The variability in hours spent between v olunteer-client pairs appeared to mask any main effects, and also the lengt h of the contact period with the volunteer was too short. It is recommended that the use of volunteers be evaluated further by extending the client co ntact time into the follow-up period.