title: Brief family treatment intervention to promote aftercare among male substance abusing patients in inpatient detoxification: A quasi-experimental pilot study.
abstract: We developed a brief family treatment (BFT) intervention for substance abusing patients in inpatient detoxification to promote aftercare treatment post-detox. BFT consisted of meeting with the patient and a family member (spouse or parent) with whom the patient lived to review and recommend potential aftercare plans for the patient. A phone conference was used when logistics prevented an in-person family meeting. Results indicated that male substance abusing patients who received BFT (N=14), as compared with a matched treatment as usual (TAU) comparison group (N=14) that did not, showed a trend toward being more likely to enter an aftercare program and to attend more days of aftercare in the 3 months after detoxification. The magnitude of these differences favoring BFT over TAU was midway between a medium and a large effect size. Days using alcohol or drugs in the 3 months after detox were lower for treatment-exposed BFT patients who had an in-person family meeting than TAU counterparts (trend, medium effect), and for patients who entered aftercare regardless of treatment condition (significant large effect).
authors.affiliation: Families and Addiction Program, Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry, VA Boston Healthcare System, Brockton, Massachusetts 02301, USA. timothy_ofarrell@hms.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Timothy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: O'Farrell
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alter
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Fals-Stewart
mesh_terms: D000359:Aftercare; D005196:Family Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008658:Inactivation, Metabolic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D013997:Time Factors