The main goal of this project is to develop and validate an empirical typology of convicted drinking drivers (DWI offenders) that can be used for treatment matching. Treatment matching needs to be examined for the DWI population because the literature shows that poor outcomes characterize current DWI treatments. This project will interview a total sample of 650 male and female DWI offenders, oversampled for repeat offenders so that a sufficient number of problem cases are included. Cluster analysis with special attention paid to replication and validation procedures will be used to develop the typology. The variables that will be used to derive the typology are selected from the alcoholism treatment matching and DWI literatures and are: (1) severity of alcohol dependence, (2) psychiatric severity, (3) a bad driving index, and (4) a measure of social stability. These variables are closely linked to treatment matching decisions such as the areas needing treatment (alcohol, driving, or both), the intensity of treatment, and the focus of treatment (problem-focused versus broad spectrum). Personality, drinking measures, driving-related measures, and other variables will be used to establish the concurrent validity of the typology. Treatment-related measures (e.g., treatment goals, outcome expectancies, stages of change) will be used to examine the typology's clinical validity. The predictive validity of the typology will be determined from official Department of Motor Vehicles records of DWI rearrest rates for the two-year period after the initial interview. A follow-up telephone interview of first offenders will obtain outcome measures (drinking, drinking and driving, treatment used) 18 months after the initial interview. The first offenders are used for the follow-up because they are less likely to have had any prior treatment that could confound the follow-up findings. The first offender follow-up study will determine the most appropriate treatment match for each group of the typology by identifying the treatment that resulted in the best outcome for each group. The followup also will identify the best predictors of treatment outcome. The typology developed in this proposal and the findings from the first offender follow-up study will provide specific matching hypotheses to be tested by future matching research with DWI
| Wieczorek, W F; Miller, B A (1992) Preliminary typology designed for treatment matching of driving-while-intoxicated offenders. J Consult Clin Psychol 60:757-65 |
