title: Psychosocial and clinical predictors of retention in outpatient alcoholism treatment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  One of the factors associated with low rates of compliance in the treatment for alcoholism seems to be the intensity of craving for alcohol. This study aimed to evaluate the associations between alcohol craving and biopsychosocial addiction model-related variables and to verify whether these variables could predict treatment retention.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sample consisted of 257 male alcoholics who were enrolled in two different pharmacological trials conducted at the Universidade de São Paulo in Brazil. Based on four factors measured at baseline - biological (age, race, and family alcoholism), psychiatric (depression symptoms), social (financial and marital status), and addiction (craving intensity, severity of alcohol dependence, smoking status, drinking history, preferential beverage, daily intake of alcohol before treatment) - direct logistic regression was performed to analyze these factors' influence on treatment retention after controlling for medication groups and AA attendance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Increasing age, participation in Alcoholics Anonymous groups, and beer preference among drinkers were independently associated with higher treatment retention. Conversely, higher scores for depression increased dropout rates.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Health services should identify the treatment practices and therapists that improve retention. Information about patients' characteristics linked to dropouts should be studied to render treatment programs more responsive and attractive, combining pharmacological agents with more intensive and diversified psychosocial interventions.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil.
authors: João Maria
authors: JM
authors: Corrêa Filho
authors: Danilo Antonio
authors: DA
authors: Baltieri
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000436:Alcoholics Anonymous; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology*; D001938:Brazil; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003192:Compulsive Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055118:Medication Adherence / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult