| Summary: | In this thesis the literature on alcohol treatment, evaluation and related issues are reviewed from a historical perspective. Conclusions were reached about both the efficacy of treatment and treatment evaluations. The possibility of a new source model of treatment was considered. Patient data on outcome was analysed on a before and after basis. It was found that the successful outcome group exhibited much the same characteristics as the rest of the sample at phase one, such that it was not possible to extract a discrete profile of completers. It was further noted that the successful outcome group displayed similar characteristics to other groups reported in the literature, social class being a prominent exception. Process data were analysed to observe the pattern of change over the study period. This pattern tended to conform to common sense views of the recovery process held by clinic staff. The pattern was predominantly linear with a disruption occurring around the three to four months period, thereafter the scores continued in a linear fashion. Correlations amongst the scores were noted. The concept of affect balance was introduced as a clinical, methodological and theoretical construct that has value for treatment evaluations. A thirteen life domain scale was constructed to operationalize the concept of affect balance and its properties were discussed.
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