Enhancing the self-esteem of inpatient alcoholics

This study examined the effect of pairing inpatient alcoholics with nursing home residents (NHRs) on the alcoholics' self-esteem. In this PALS program, the alcoholic inpatients assumed a helping-companion relationship with the NHRs for 2 hr per day during their last 2 weeks of treatment. Fifty alcoholic inpatients were randomly assigned to the PALS program (n = 25) or to the library for free reading time (n = 25). The Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS) was administered to all subjects in both groups before and after the interventions. Of the nine TSCS scales, the improvement on the Moral-Ethical scale was significantly greater in the PALS group. Because the alcoholic inpatients in the PALS group engaged in altruistic (moral) behavior, this study provides a logical link between the intervention and the outcome, which has been a prevalent weakness in previous studies of self-esteem in alcoholics.