Human Services News

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

A new training technique developed in the UK is proving successful in helping excessive drinkers curb their alcohol abuse.

Researchers funded by the Economic and Social Research Council have experimentally tested a computer-based training programme which helps abusive drinkers pay less attention to alcohol, feel more in control of their drinking and drink less.

Researchers at the University of Wales found that excessive drinkers cut down significantly on their drinking following their participation in this project's newly developed Alcohol Attention-Control Training Programme (AACTP).

"AACTP is now a tried and tested training programme which can help improve the effectiveness of treatment for alcohol-related problems," explains researcher Professor W. Miles Cox.

AACTP works by helping excessive drinkers become less distracted by the alcohol stimuli they see around them - stimuli which range from pictures of alcoholic beverages to bottles of alcohol in the local off-licence window or on the shelves of a supermarket.

"Excessive drinkers unconsciously pay too much attention to the alcohol-related stimuli that surround us all," Professor Cox points out.

The ACCTP training procedure developed by Professor W. Miles Cox and Dr Javad S. Fadardi is a computerised programme based on goal-setting techniques with immediate feedback.

For example, two bottles - an alcoholic and non-alcoholic one - appear on the computer screen each surrounded by a different colour.

"Over a course of four sessions, our sample of excessive drinkers showed significant reductions in their attentional focus on alcohol which translated into lower alcohol consumption."

1. The research project 'Developing and evaluating attention-diversion training for excessive drinkers' was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

Participants who completed all sessions were (a) 40 social drinkers (14 per cent male, with a mean age of 30 years and a mean weekly drinking of 9 units); (b) 68 heavy drinkers (17 per cent male, with a mean age of 23 years and a mean weekly drinking of 42 units); and (c) 50 excessive drinkers (86 per cent male, with a mean age of 42 years and a mean weekly drinking of 72 units).

As a result of the training, they showed significant reductions in their alcohol consumption that were maintained at the three-month follow-up.

Read more from this post.