A community-centered alcoholism assessment/treatment service: a descriptive study.

This paper describes socio-demographic, alcohol-related, legal, medical, behavioural and treatment characteristics of 407 patients with problems of alcoholism/drug abuse assessed over a period of three years in a community oriented assessment and treatment program. The results show that patients entering this program represent a cross section of alcoholics in the area. These patients are similar to those entering traditional outpatient and residential facilities on most demographic variables; severity of alcoholism, length of history, and previous treatment experience. However, they are slightly younger and differ significantly from the others on their sources of referral. Over the three year period a significant change has occurred in the relationship between the program and the sources of referral. The implications of these findings for planning comprehensive treatment services for alcoholism are discussed.