[Predictors of success of long-term treatment in alcohol dependency]

There is a lack of positive predictors for long-term treatment of subjects with alcohol addiction. We analyzed the relation between motivation and other external variables of access to treatment as well as treatment outcome.

434 persons with alcohol addiction, treated in 2004 in the Diakonie-Krankenhaus Harz (DHK), Elbingerode, as part of a long-term therapy, were followed-up one year after treatment. Access variables were defined and examined in relation to outcome variables with multiple linear and logistic regressions.

Ways of accessing treatment had no effect on later treatment outcome, while motiva­tion at the start of therapy was relevant: Patients with ambivalent motivation had the most negative outcome.

Therapy motivation was the main predictor for the outcome of a long-term anti-addiction treatment. To improve the quality of the treatment system, interventions to strengthen motivation should be promoted.