National Addiction Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings College London, London, United Kingdom; Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada.
Drug Alcohol Depend. 2021 Oct 1;227:108960. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2021.108960. Epub 2021 Aug 12.
Some former heavy drinkers identify themselves as being in recovery. Previous research has examined how common the recovery identity is by recruiting participants who identified as having a past drinking problem. However, there are many people who reduce their drinking without identifying (at least in retrospect) that they had a problem. What are the possible implications of this recruitment question on prevalence estimates of the recovery identity?
A convenience sample of participants were recruited through the Prolific website. Participants were asked about their current and past drinking. Those who were former heavy drinkers were asked if their drinking had ever been a problem and if they currently, or ever, regarded themselves as being in recovery.
From a sample of 4450 participants, 240 people were identified as former heavy drinkers who now drink in a moderate fashion or were not drinking at all. Less than a third (29.2 %) of these former heavy drinkers endorsed that they used to have a problem but now no longer do. Only 13.8 % said that they had ever been in recovery (8.8 % currently identified as in recovery). Almost all participants who identified as being in recovery also agreed that they used to have a problem with their drinking.
Recruiting participants who identify as having had a problem, but now no longer do, will lead to an underestimation of the number of former heavy drinkers in the general population and an inflated estimate of the proportion of these former heavy drinkers who identify as being in recovery.
一些曾经大量饮酒的人认为自己已经戒酒康复。此前的研究通过招募那些自认为有过去饮酒问题的参与者来考察康复身份的普遍性。然而，有很多人减少了饮酒量，但至少在回顾时并不认为自己有问题。这种招募问题对康复身份的流行率估计有什么可能的影响？
通过 Prolific 网站招募了一组方便的参与者。参与者被问及他们目前和过去的饮酒情况。那些曾经是重度饮酒者的人被问到他们的饮酒是否曾经是个问题，以及他们目前是否或曾经认为自己处于康复状态。
在 4450 名参与者中，有 240 人被确定为曾经大量饮酒但现在适度饮酒或完全不饮酒的人。这些曾经大量饮酒者中，不到三分之一（29.2%）的人承认他们过去有问题，但现在没有了。只有 13.8%的人说他们曾经康复过（8.8%的人目前认为自己在康复中）。几乎所有自称康复的参与者都同意他们过去有饮酒问题。
招募那些认为自己过去有问题但现在没有的参与者，将导致对一般人群中曾经大量饮酒者人数的低估，以及对这些曾经大量饮酒者中自称康复者比例的高估。
