Educational programs are almost universally employed in alcoholism treatment. These are usually conducted via means of lectures, videotapes, and films, etc. However, little systematic information is available on how well alcohol dependent persons learn and retain information communicated in such fashion. At the same time, there is reason to believe that chronic alcoholics, especially those recently detoxified, may experience difficulties in processing and retaining unfamiliar or large amounts of information. It is hypothesized that computer assisted instruction (CAI) because of its structured, yet individualized, format may be particularly suited to populations such as alcoholics with possible cognitive deficits. The major objectives of the proposed project therefore are to develop a CAI program for alcohol abusers and to compare its effectiveness with that of a conventional educational intervention. The project will be conducted in two stages. In the development and validation stage, a CAI program on medical aspects of alcohol abuse will be developed and tested out on a small representative sample of outpatients at the VAMC's Alcoholism Treatment Unit (ATU). In the succeeding evaluation stage, 80 alcoholic subjects will be randomly assigned either to the conventional videotape presentation consisting of two, 30-minute lectures followed by small group discussions or to two CAI sessions of approximately the same duration. Pre- and post-educational testing for subject matter knowledge will be accomplished for both groups and long term recall will be evaluated one month later. Half of the subjects in each group will be abstinent approximately one week prior to educational intervention while the remaining subjects will be abstinent about three weeks. Psychosocial history and functioning, academic achievement and neuropsychological functioning will be assessed prior to educational intervention and the relationship between such antecedent variables and the subject's learning and retention will also be evaluated.
| Alterman, A I; Baughman, T G (1991) Videotape versus computer interactive education in alcoholic and nonalcoholic controls. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 15:39-44 |
| Alterman, A I; Kushner, H; Holahan, J M (1990) Cognitive functioning and treatment outcome in alcoholics. J Nerv Ment Dis 178:494-9 |
| Alterman, A I; Holahan, J M; Baughman, T G et al. (1989) Predictors of alcoholics' acquisition of treatment-related knowledge. J Subst Abuse Treat 6:49-53 |
