A 10-year follow-up survey of acceptability of controlled drinking in Britain

This study was designed to reassess the acceptability of controlled drinking (CD) approximately 10 years after Robertson and Heather's (1982) survey of British treatment providers. Sixty percent of a wide range of almost 300 targeted alcohol service agencies in Scotland, England and Wales responded to a mailed questionnaire. Three-quarters of these respondents reported that nonabstinence was an acceptable outcome goal. About half of the respondents who accept CD reported it as acceptable for only 1-25% of their clientele. Within the subgroup of outpatient agencies, almost one-third reported CD as appropriate for at least 50% of their clientele. Respondents endorsing CD rated severity of dependence, client attitudes and beliefs about controlled drinking and abstinence, drinking history, liver function test results and social stability/social relationships as the most important factors of those listed in selecting outcome goals. Respondents reportedly based acceptance or rejection of CD most frequently on their own professional experience and, to a lesser extent, on research evidence for or against CD and on agency policy.