Attitudes toward alcoholism in volunteer therapist aides: do they change?

The Marcus Alcoholism Questionnaire was administered pre- and post-experience to discern attitudes held by volunteer helpers, recruited from the community to help in an alcoholism rehabilitation programme. Forty-four volunteers completed all requirements of the 6-month programme. Pre-experience attitudes appeared fairly neutral or positive towards relevant aspects of alcoholism, and two patterns emerged using principal components analysis, one centering on the predisposing influence of alcohol and the alcoholic, and the other on the social consequences of drinking. Multivariate analyses showed some significant post-programme attitudinal changes, with the older volunteers differing in some aspects from their younger counterparts.