A longitudinal design will be used to investigate body/behavioral experiences (BBE) of 200 individuals (100 men; 100 women) during the first year of recovery from alcoholism. If BBE were empirically described, then anticipation of their occurrence in relation to selected parameters of alcohol use (i.e., severity of alcohol use and alcohol dependence) prior to sobriety would be possible. The occurrence of BBE have been implicated in relapse events. A longitudinal approach used in this study will enable examination of relapse events that may occur for some subjects and to study their relationship to the occurrence and frequency of BBEs reported, and subjects' ratings of discomfort level of selected BBEs reported. The relationship between length of sobriety and BBE will be examined during four assessment periods following alcohol abstinence initiated at an intensive alcoholism treatment program (2 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year). The hypothesis that BBEs decrease with increased periods of alcohol abstinence will be tested using a one-way ANOVA with repeated measures statistical analysis. If relapse is reported at the second, third, or fourth assessment periods, it will be examined for nature of severity and its relationship to BBE scores, alcohol use, and alcohol dependence obtained at initial assessment. It is hypothesized that high BBE scores, high number of BBEs reported to cause discomfort and high severity of discomfort ratings at initial assessment will influence number and severity of relapse events reported at subsequent assessment periods. Based on assumptions and preliminary descriptive analysis, a causal model (e.g., cross-lagged panel correlation; structural equations modeling) will be selected to examine the relationships between BBE, Time, and Relapse Severity. If there is substantial drop out from the study, survival analysis will be used to describe changes over time in BBE and Relapse Severity for groups differing in length of """"""""survival"""""""" in the study. This empirical documentation of BBE is expected to be useful to health care providers in the rehabilitation process, to clients and their families, and could help serve as a deterrent to relapse.
| Murphy, S A; Hoffman, A L (1993) An empirical description of phases of maintenance following treatment for alcohol dependence. J Subst Abuse 5:131-43 |
