title: Brief family treatment intervention to promote continuing care among alcohol-dependent patients in inpatient detoxification: a randomized pilot study.
abstract: Alcohol-dependent patients in inpatient detoxification were randomized to treatment-as-usual (TAU) intervention or brief family treatment (BFT) intervention to promote continuing care postdetoxification. BFT consisted of meeting with the patient and an adult family member (in person or over the phone) with whom the patient lived to review and recommend potential continuing care plans for the patient. Results showed that BFT patients (n = 24) were significantly more likely than TAU patients (n = 21) to enter a continuing care program after detoxification. This was a medium to large effect size. In the 3 months after detoxification, days using alcohol or drugs (a) trended lower for treatment-exposed BFT patients who had an in-person family meeting than for TAU counterparts (medium effect), and (b) were significantly lower for patients who entered continuing care regardless of treatment condition (large effect).
authors.affiliation: Families and Addiction Program, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, VA Boston Healthcare System, Brockton, MA 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: D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005196:Family Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008658:Inactivation, Metabolic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011614:Psychotherapy, Brief / Q000379:methods; D012114:Residential Treatment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data