Allokation alkoholabhängiger Patienten zur ambulanten, stationären Kurzzeit- oder Langzeittherapie: Lässt sich anhand von Patientencharakteristika die optimale Alkoholentwöhnung bestimmen?

The primary aim of the study was to investigate the predictive
value of patients´ characteris-tics for treatment outcome in
outpatient and inpatient settings. Study took place between 2003
and 2006. It was a prospective observational study with
par-ticipation of 290 alcohol-dependent patients. Patients entered
an outpatient treatment (12 months duration), short term inpatient
treatment with duration of 8 weeks, or long term inpa-tient
treatment (duration between 12 and 16 weeks). Analyzes implied
patients´ characteristics and characteristics of mental illness.
Assessments were made using medical basic documenta-tion, European
Addiction Severity Index (EuropASI), Timeline Followback Interview,
Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), State- Trait Anxiety Inventory
(STAI), and Obsessive-Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS). Higher
secondary school qualifications, finished professional training,
onset of alcohol de-pendence at a later time, longer duration of
alcohol dependence, less previous treatments for somatic problems,
and a history without or of less attempted suicide were found to be
predic-tive for a preferable treatment outcome. Furthermore, family
satisfaction and employment were variables which differed between
treatments with respect to the treatment outcome. As-sociation
between craving and treatment outcome were found as follows: In the
short term, patients who reported less craving had better treatment
outcome than patients with a larger extent of craving.