12-step program: a study

roosh

Following on from a discussion in the A&A forum; how would one go about formulating a study into the 12-step approach to addiction treatment?

I know the onus is prob on the OP to suggest a methodology, but, I'm not experienced in research so, in this case, I would prefer to see what is suggested and offer what little experience I have.

It could, potentially, turn into an interesting conversation.....or not.

roosh

Just to start proceedings, I would suggest a sample of people who have completed the 12-steps compared to people who haven't, as opposed to people who just go to meetings - most studies, from what I've read, seem to focus on "meetings"; but "meetings" is no indication of whether a person has worked through the "actual" 12-steps.

Little Acorn

If it is effectiveness you are looking to study, it could be interesting to compare 12 steps against people who went cold turkey on their own without any form of therapy, people who went to one on one private counselling, people who go to a treatment centre and meetings, and people who go to meetings without having attended a treatment centre. (there are possibly other options too)

Having gathered a number of people who meet the above criteria, you could pick a time period say for example 8 years, and conduct the study to determine in those 8 years how many have had say
-no slips
-1 slip
-2 slips
-3 slips
(and onwards etc.)
or
-were actively back drinking/using drugs/gambling

The whole group of people at the very start could also be broken down into further categories such as:
-age
-gender
-employed or unemployed?
-does the person have a support network of their friends and family or not?
-was the person completing 12 steps/other form of treatment of their own initiative, or were they pushed into it under threat of losing job and/or family but didn't really believe they had a problem?
-do they suffer with any other form of diagnosed mental illness such as depression or other?

...... to see what (if any) effect these factors play on the bearing of results.

You could also ask:
-what their own level of satisfaction and opinion on their success is, such as do they feel their life has improved greatly, do they feel that they have taken control of their addiction?etc

You would also have to take into account that due to the nature of the study, a large number of relevant people may not be represented in the study due to their wish to complete anonymity and not wanting to partake in any type of study.(even if you say the study is anonymous)

You would have to consider the possibility that there may be a correlation in that the people happy to do the study may be the people who have had most positive results leading to a higher success rate result in your findings.
Of course the opposite also has to be considered that there are people who have been very successful but you don't get many of these volunteers because of their wish for complete anonymity and no link to any study.

That's just a few ideas I thought might be interesting to do comparisons between as it might show whether sobriety effectiveness is based more on the type of treatment used, or else more by other factors in life that don't distinguish between the type of treatment used.

dar100

Lots of studies carried out in this area, here; http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/03/the-surprising-failures-of-12-steps/284616/

dar100

Also, here, http://www.freedocumentsearch.com/pdf/reinforcement-approach-to-motivation.html#.UzX-Bxf7Jf8.facebook

Measuring a behavioural approach, CRA against 12 step facilitation therapy

roosh

Little Acorn wrote: »

If it is effectiveness you are looking to study, it could be interesting to compare 12 steps against people who went cold turkey on their own without any form of therapy, people who went to one on one private counselling, people who go to a treatment centre and meetings, and people who go to meetings without having attended a treatment centre. (there are possibly other options too)

Having gathered a number of people who meet the above criteria, you could pick a time period say for example 8 years, and conduct the study to determine in those 8 years how many have had say
-no slips
-1 slip
-2 slips
-3 slips
(and onwards etc.)
or
-were actively back drinking/using drugs/gambling

The whole group of people at the very start could also be broken down into further categories such as:
-age
-gender
-employed or unemployed?
-does the person have a support network of their friends and family or not?
-was the person completing 12 steps/other form of treatment of their own initiative, or were they pushed into it under threat of losing job and/or family but didn't really believe they had a problem?
-do they suffer with any other form of diagnosed mental illness such as depression or other?

...... to see what (if any) effect these factors play on the bearing of results.

You could also ask:
-what their own level of satisfaction and opinion on their success is, such as do they feel their life has improved greatly, do they feel that they have taken control of their addiction?etc

You would also have to take into account that due to the nature of the study, a large number of relevant people may not be represented in the study due to their wish to complete anonymity and not wanting to partake in any type of study.(even if you say the study is anonymous)

You would have to consider the possibility that there may be a correlation in that the people happy to do the study may be the people who have had most positive results leading to a higher success rate result in your findings.
Of course the opposite also has to be considered that there are people who have been very successful but you don't get many of these volunteers because of their wish for complete anonymity and no link to any study.

That's just a few ideas I thought might be interesting to do comparisons between as it might show whether sobriety effectiveness is based more on the type of treatment used, or else more by other factors in life that don't distinguish between the type of treatment used.

Cheers LA. It sounds like the biggest issue might be in sample selection so? As dar points out, there are quite a few studies into the area, I'm just trying to get an idea of some of the potential issues that would affect the methodology of such a study.

roosh

dar100 wrote: »

Lots of studies carried out in this area, here; http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/03/the-surprising-failures-of-12-steps/284616/

dar100 wrote: »

Also, here, http://www.freedocumentsearch.com/pdf/reinforcement-approach-to-motivation.html#.UzX-Bxf7Jf8.facebook

Measuring a behavioural approach, CRA against 12 step facilitation therapy

Cheers dar. I've seen that there are a number of studies alright but haven't gone through a lot of them. The OP came from a discussion on the same. I was interested in getting an idea of how such a study would be carried out and the potential issues in conducting such research.

I'll give a read to a few of those studies, cheers.

dar100

I'm not great on research, maybe re-post in the psychology forum?

What I would do is find something to measure it against, MI, CRA, CBT etc, although this has been done many times.

Personally, I think the programme works and has benefits, for reasons other than the 12 steps and god etc