Predicting attendance at follow-up evaluations in alcoholism treatment outcome research

The potential utility of an early-warning system involving the use of attendance at scheduled clinical appointments to predict attrition of research subjects from follow-up evaluations was investigated. Subjects (N = 92) discharged from an inpatient alcoholism treatment program into a treatment outcome study were monitored on their aftercare attendance for 1 year postdischarge. Attendance at clinical aftercare sessions during the follow-up year was correlated significantly with attendance at the research project's quarterly follow-up evaluations (p less than .001) and with total number of research evaluations completed (p less than .001). Number of weeks spent in aftercare before dropping out also improved prediction of attendance or nonattendance at quarterly follow-up evaluations during the first 6 months postdischarge (p less than .01). The findings suggest that monitoring attendance at clinical services may be a useful step in minimizing attrition of research subjects from follow-up evaluations.