Stability of drinking prior to alcoholism treatment

This study assessed how many months of pretreatment drinking data would represent a stable baseline. Fifty-one couples were interviewed using the time-line follow-back interviewing procedure to obtain 365 days of pretreatment drinking data. The pattern (binge, episodic, steady) and frequency of drinking did not differ when comparing 30 days prior to treatment with the rest of the year. However, there were significantly more abstinent days in the last 3 months than in the remainder of the pretreatment year. Implications for baseline data collection in alcoholism treatment research are discussed.