Center for Health Enhancement Systems Studies, Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
J Addict Med. 2012 Mar;6(1):24-8. doi: 10.1097/ADM.0b013e31822b80ca.
People who grow up with a family member who has a substance use disorder (SUD) are at risk for serious problems, and yet support for family members focuses mainly on the individual with the SUD. Technology may offer a way to make support widely available to family members of those with SUDs. This small randomized trial examined an online system of resources called CHESS (Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System) for adult children of alcoholics (ACOAs), a population at greater risk for SUDs, depression, and other difficulties than adults whose parents were not alcoholics.
The study randomized 23 self-identified ACOAs to 3 interventions for 8 weeks. The goal was to increase participants' treatment compliance and psychological health. The interventions were therapy only, CHESS only, and CHESS plus therapy. We used 2 measures: compliance with treatment, gauged by attendance in group therapy for the 2 groups assigned to therapy, and aspects of psychological health or distress, measured by a survey with items from 7 scales.
The CHESS-plus-therapy group had an attendance rate in group therapy of 81.5% compared to 42.8% for the therapy-only group. The CHESS-only intervention had the largest effect size on 5 of the 7 measures of psychological health or distress. In 4 of the 5 cases, the effect size was large; in 1 case, it was moderate.
The findings of this pilot study are based on a small sample, but they suggest the need for more research and the potentially important role of technology in behavioral health treatment.
在有物质使用障碍（SUD）家庭成员的环境中成长的人面临严重问题的风险，然而，对家庭成员的支持主要集中在 SUD 患者身上。技术可能为 SUD 患者的家庭成员提供广泛获得支持的途径。这项小型随机试验研究了一种名为 CHESS（综合健康增强支持系统）的在线资源系统，用于酗酒者的成年子女（ACOAs），这是一个比父母不酗酒的成年人更容易出现 SUD、抑郁和其他困难的人群。
该研究将 23 名自我认同的 ACOAs随机分为 3 组进行 8 周的干预。目的是提高参与者的治疗依从性和心理健康。干预措施为仅接受治疗、仅接受 CHESS 治疗和 CHESS 加治疗。我们使用了 2 个措施：通过参加小组治疗来衡量治疗的依从性，对于分配到治疗组的 2 组来说，这是参加小组治疗的比例；心理健康或困扰的各个方面，通过使用来自 7 个量表的项目的调查来衡量。
与仅接受治疗组的 42.8%相比，CHESS 加治疗组的小组治疗出勤率为 81.5%。仅接受 CHESS 干预的组在 7 个心理健康或困扰测量指标中的 5 个方面有最大的效果量。在 5 个案例中，效果量很大；在 1 个案例中，效果量适中。
这项初步研究的结果基于小样本，但它们表明需要更多的研究和技术在行为健康治疗中可能具有重要作用。
