Alcoholism Treatment and Evaluation: In Search of Methods

Abstract

This study collated 58 studies reporting the outcome of alcoholism treatment efforts over a 1-year follow-up period. Four outcome indices described each study; case fatality rate, problem-drinking rate, success rate, and subject unavailability rate. Hierarchical grouping analysis was employed to cluster studies into groups of maximum multivariate similarity. A five-group clustering solution was accepted. Consistencies were noted both within those studies described as having good outcome profiles and within those with poor outcome profiles.