The relationship between alcoholism treatment outcome in terms of drinking and various patient characteristics

The study compared two groups of alcoholics who had received treatment in a multi-modal, behavioral program. One group (151 subjects) were not drinking at all at the end of the follow-up year, while the second group (109 subjects) had returned to heavy drinking. The data indicated few differences between the two groups on various psychosocial, work performance and demographic variables when they entered treatment. Both groups showed initial improvement on psychosocial and work performance variables after residential treatment. The abstainer sample maintained the improvement throughout the follow-up year, while the group which returned to heavy drinking showed a significant decrement in psychosocial behavior and work performance after the initial improvement.