Latinos and Latinas in Communal Settings: A Grounded Theory of Recovery

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 Latino/a residents of a mutual help residential recovery program (Oxford House) in order to elicit their experiences of the program’s therapeutic elements. A model of recovery emerged from the analysis including several themes supported by existing literature: personal motivation and readiness to change, mutual help, sober environment, social support, and accountability. Consistent with a broad conceptualization of recovery, outcomes included abstinence, new life skills, and increased self-esteem/sense of purpose. Most participants were the only Latino/a in their Houses; however, cultural differences did not emerge as salient issues. The study’s findings highlight potential therapeutic aspects of mutual-help communal recovery programs and suggest that English-speaking, bicultural Latinos/as have positive experiences and may benefit from participating in these programs

High effectiveness of self-help programs after drug addiction therapy

BACKGROUND: The self-help groups Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) are very well established. AA and NA employ a 12-step program and are found in most large cities around the world. Although many have argued that these organizations are valuable, substantial scepticism remains as to whether they are actually effective. Few treatment facilities give clear recommendations to facilitate participation, and the use of these groups has been disputed. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the use of self-help groups after addiction treatment is associated with higher rates of abstinence. METHODS: One hundred and fourteen patients, 59 with alcohol dependency and 55 with multiple drug dependency, who started in self-help groups after addiction treatment, were examined two years later using a questionnaire. Return rate was 66%. Six (5%) of the patients were dead. RESULTS: Intention-to-treat-analysis showed that 38% still participated in self-help programs two years after treatment. Among the regular participants, 81% had been abstinent over the previous 6 months, compared with only 26% of the non-participants. Logistic regression analysis showed OR = 12.6, 95% CI (4.1–38.3), p < 0.001, for participation and abstinence. CONCLUSION: The study has several methodological problems; in particular, correlation does not necessarily indicate causality. These problems are discussed and we conclude that the probability of a positive effect is sufficient to recommend participation in self-help groups as a supplement to drug addiction treatment. PREVIOUS PUBLICATION: This article is based on a study originally published in Norwegian: Kristensen O, Vederhus JK: Self-help programs in drug addiction therapy. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen 2005, 125:2798–2801

Does Lack of Multinutrient Supplementation During Early Pregnancy Increase Vulnerability to Alcohol-Related Preterm or Small-for-Gestational-Age Births?

The objective of this study was to assess whether women who do not take multinutrient supplements during early pregnancy are more susceptible to the effects of low-to-moderate alcohol consumption on preterm birth and small-for-gestational-age birth (SGA) compared to women who do take multinutrients. This analysis included 800 singleton live births to mothers from a cohort of pregnant women recruited for a population-based cohort study conducted in the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program in Northern California. Participants were recruited in their first trimester of pregnancy and information about their alcohol use and supplement intake during pregnancy was collected. Preterm birth (n = 53, 7%) was defined as a delivery prior to 37 completed weeks of gestation and SGA birth (n = 124, 16%) was defined as birth weight less than the 10th percentile for the infant’s gestational age and sex compared to US singleton live births. A twofold increase in the odds of SGA birth attributed to low-to-moderate alcohol intake was found among multinutrient supplement non-users (95% CI: 1.1, 5.3). Yet, among multinutrient supplement users, there was no increased risk of an SGA birth for women who drank low-to-moderately compared to women who abstained (aOR: 0.97, 95% CI: 0.6, 1.6). Similar results emerged for preterm birth. Our findings provide marginal evidence that multinutrient supplementation during early pregnancy may modify the risk of SGA births and preterm birth associated with alcohol consumption during pregnancy and may have important implications for pregnant women and women of child-bearing age. However, future research needs to be conducted

Recovery definitions: Do they change?

Background: The term "recovery" is widely used in the substance abuse literature and clinical settings, but data have not been available to empirically validate how recovery is defined by individuals who are themselves in recovery. The "What Is Recovery?" project developed a 39-item definition of recovery based on a large nationwide online survey of individuals in recovery. The objective of this paper is to report on the stability of those definitions one to two years later. Methods: To obtain a sample for studying recovery definitions that reflected the different pathways to recovery, the parent study involved intensive outreach. Follow-up interviews (. n=. 1237) were conducted online and by telephone among respondents who consented to participate in follow-up studies. Descriptive analyses considered endorsement of individual recovery items at both surveys, and t-tests of summary scores studied significant change in the sample overall and among key subgroups. To assess item reliability, Cronbach's alpha was estimated. Results: Rates of endorsement of individual items at both interviews was above 90% for a majority of the recovery elements, and there was about as much transition into endorsement as out of endorsement. Statistically significant t-test scores were of modest magnitude, and reliability statistics were high (ranging from .782 to .899). Conclusions: Longitudinal analyses found little evidence of meaningful change in recovery definitions at follow-up. Results thus suggest that the recovery definitions developed in the parent "What Is Recovery?" survey represent stable definitions of recovery that can be used to guide service provision in Recovery-Oriented Systems of Care