title: Shorter and proximal Timeline Followback windows are representative of longer posttreatment functioning.
abstract: Very little research has been conducted on what time window provides a representative picture of daily drinking. With respect to pretreatment drinking, one study that used the Timeline Followback (TLFB) with problem drinkers found that a 3-month window is generally representative of annual pretreatment drinking. The objective of the present study was to determine the shortest representative time window for reports of annual posttreatment drinking. A second objective was to determine which of two time windows, 90 days from the end of treatment or 90 days prior to the end of follow-up, was the most representative proxy for annual posttreatment drinking. TLFB reports from 467 problem drinkers who participated in a randomized controlled trial of a mail-based intervention were used in the present analysis. The results show that a 3-month posttreatment window (i.e., first 90 days after the intervention) is sufficiently representative (r = .94) of annual posttreatment drinking for problem drinkers (i.e., less severely dependent alcohol abusers). In addition, although there were no clinically significant differences in drinking behavior between the two 90-day posttreatment windows, the use of proximal windows (i.e., closer to the end of treatment) would minimize participant attrition. In addition, a 3-month versus 12-month TLFB follow-up time frame resulted in a much higher percentage of participants completing the full TLFB (89% vs. 71%). Further research is needed to determine if these findings will generalize to more severely dependent alcohol abusers.
authors.affiliation: Center for Psychological Studies, Nova Southeastern University, 3301 College Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314, USA. cgioia@nova.edu
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Gioia
authors.forename: Linda Carter
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Sobell
authors.forename: Mark B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Sobell
authors.forename: Edward R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Simco
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology*; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012650:Self Disclosure; D013997:Time Factors