Between despair and hope: health services research on treatment of alcoholabuse

Conference papers have highlighted the difficulty of conducting valid analy ses of alcohol and drug abuse treatment services. Because of these difficul ties, investigators, providers and policy makers could feel overwhelmed and be reluctant to initiate studies. The papers, however, also offer guidance and encourage researchers to apply these methods and improve their investi gations. Common features of the papers are noted and the potential for maki ng contributions to the state of the art is examined. Aspects of health ser vices research that are not addressed in the papers are also discussed. Alt hough alcohol services research is not easy and can be improved, the state of alcohol services research is where it belongs-in the middle of the perso nal, programmatic and policy level struggles to achieve stable recoveries f rom alcohol and drug dependence.