Replacing the last week of a motivational inpatient alcohol withdrawal programme by a day-clinic setting

The impact on the motivation to treatment of a qualified alcohol withdrawal programme was evaluated in a pre/post setting. Over a period of 2 years we compared the results of replacing the last week of an inpatient setting by day-clinic treatment. In the first year, 202 patients were treated in a 3-week inpatient setting, whereas in the second year, 149 patients out of 212 (70.3%) changed into day-care for the third week. The total treatment period was nearly equal in both years (16.2-17.4 days) and the average costs of detoxication were reduced by 8%. The amount of irregular discharges (21.7 vs. 23.6%) was almost unchanged. As a severe disadvantage the overall rate of patients who agreed to enter a succeeding stringent long-term treatment regressed significantly from 45.0 to 34.4% (p < 0.05).