Services for families of alcoholics: a national survey of Veterans Affairs treatment programs.
Directors of 70 (75% response rate) inpatient and 51 (54% response rate) outpatient alcoholism treatment programs run by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) returned questionnaires about patient and program characteristics and the extent of use of family-focused treatment modalities. Referrals to Al-Anon for spouses and to Alateen for teenage children were by far the most frequently provided services. Conjoint couples therapy was the type of direct service provided most frequently. Couples group therapy for outpatient programs and spouse education groups for inpatient programs were the next most frequently used. Family therapy was not used frequently. The majority of programs did not offer services directed at the individual needs of spouses, such as individual or group therapy and educational groups. Finally, services to children of alcoholics were nearly nonexistent being limited to referral of teenage children to Alateen. Marital and family services other than referral to Al-Anon and Alateen and conjoint couple interviews in inpatient programs were provided to fewer patients than those eligible for the services. The extent of family services offered bore little or no relationship to program characteristics (e.g., funding level, staffing pattern) but was related to patient characteristics. Programs with more middle-aged, employed, high school (or better) educated, married veterans made greater use of family-focused modalities. The results suggest the VA needs to develop policy guidelines for the type and intensity of marital and family services their programs should provide with specific determination of what responsibility, if any, VA programs have to the children living with the alcoholic veterans treated in these programs.
Salinas
R C
RC
Alcohol and Family Studies Laboratory, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, West Roxbury, Massachusetts 02401.
O'Farrell
T J
TJ
Jones
W C
WC
Cutter
H S
HS
D000328:Adult; D000436:Alcoholics Anonymous; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005196:Family Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006787:Hospitals, Veterans; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010348:Patient Care Team; D016320:Substance Abuse Treatment Centers; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology*