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In‐patient treatment for the alcohol‐dependent person: a public health perspective
Author(s) -
ALI ROBERT L.,
CORMACK SIMONE M.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
drug and alcohol review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.018
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1465-3362
pISSN - 0959-5236
DOI - 10.1080/09595239400185271
Subject(s) - perspective (graphical) , alcohol dependence , public health , alcohol , psychiatry , psychology , medicine , psychotherapist , nursing , biochemistry , chemistry , artificial intelligence , computer science
Abstract In accordance with public health principles, this paper is concerned with examining the individual, economic and political outcomes of in‐patient treatment for alcohol dependence. It is argued that in‐patient treatment for alcohol dependence per se is not justifiable at any of these levels, although in‐patient treatment is justifiable for the treatment of the serious biomedical sequelae of dependence. For the alcohol‐dependent person, the drinking, social, financial, psychological, work‐related and health outcomes of out‐patient treatment are as good as those for in‐patient treatment; economically, out‐patient programmes are more cost‐effective than in‐patient programmes; politically, moving the focus of treatment away from in‐patient services is more likely to contribute to a cultural milieu which recognizes problems associated with alcohol dependence early and in their many different forms, rather than only by their long‐term health consequences. [Ali RL., Cormack SM. In‐patient treatment for the alcohol‐dependent person: a public health perspective. Drug Alcohol Rev 1994;13:201–208.]