Individualized assessment and treatment program for alcohol dependence: results of an initial study to train coping skills

• Published in: Addiction (Abingdon, England) England), 2009-11, Vol.104 (11), p.1837-1838
• Main Authors: Litt, Mark D., Kadden, Ronald M., Kabela-Cormier, Elise
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptation, Psychological; Addictive behaviors; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Alcohol; Alcohol dependence; Alcohol Drinking - prevention & control; Alcohol Drinking - psychology; Alcoholism; Alcoholism - psychology; Alcoholism - therapy; Alcoholism and acute alcohol poisoning; Ambulatory Care; Behavior therapy. Cognitive therapy; Biological and medical sciences; CBT; Cognitive Behavioral Therapy - methods; Cognitive therapy; coping skills; experience sampling; Female; Humans; individualized treatment; Logistic Models; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Monitoring; Patient Care Planning; Patient Compliance; Patient Education as Topic - methods; Patient Satisfaction; Pilot Projects; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychotherapy; Remote Consultation; Self Efficacy; self-monitoring; Skills; Substance abuse treatment; Toxicology; Training; Treatment Outcome; Treatments
• ISSN: 0965-2140; 1360-0443; 1360-0443
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2009.02693.x

ABSTRACT Aims  Cognitive–behavioral treatments (CBT) are among the most popular interventions offered for alcohol and other substance use disorders, but it is not clear how they achieve their effects. CBT is purported to exert its beneficial effects by altering coping skills, but data supporting coping changes as the mechanism of action are mixed. The purpose of this pilot study was to test a treatment in which coping skills were trained in a highly individualized way, allowing us to determine if such training would result in an effective treatment. Design  Participants were assigned randomly to a comprehensive packaged CBT program (PCBT), or to an individualized assessment and treatment program (IATP). The IATP program employed experience sampling via cellphone to assess coping skills prior to treatment, and provided therapists with a detailed understanding of patients' coping strengths and deficits. Setting  Out‐patient treatment. Participants  A total of 110 alcohol‐dependent men and women. Measurements  Participants in both conditions completed experience sampling of situations, drinking and coping efforts prior to, and following, 12 weeks of treatment. Time‐line follow‐back procedures were also used to record drinking at baseline and post‐treatment. Findings  IATP yielded higher proportion of days abstinent (PDA) at post‐treatment (P