Effects of ALANON attendance on family perception of inner-city indigents

This study investigated the perception of family functioning of rehabilitating inner-city substance abusers and one of their family members. Subjects were 39 residents of a treatment center and 39 family members. The design was compromised experimental, comparing the group who had family members in ALANON (n = 36) with a nonrandomized control group whose family members had no help (n = 42). Data were collected three times: at the beginning of the abuser's treatment, at the end, and one month after treatment. Subjects completed two family functioning instruments: Assessment of Strategies in Families (ASF) and Family APGAR. Repeated-measure MANOVAs yielded significant differences in all family scores between the ALANON and the control groups. An increase in the perception of family effectiveness was most pronounced between time 2 and time 3, after the substance abuse program was completed. Family members changed their perceptions more than the abusers and maintained their favorable family perception, even though five of the abusers had relapsed shortly after discharge. At 3 months after treatment, the relapse rate for addicts in the ALANON group (n = 15) was 39% compared with 61% for addicts in the control group (n = 18). The difference was not of statistical significance due to the small group sizes, however. Evidence suggests the usefulness of ALANON in empowering families and assisting them in reevaluating the family system more positively.