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A Simple Risk Scoring System for Prediction of Relapse after Inpatient Alcohol Treatment
Author(s) -
Pedersen Mads Uffe,
Hesse Morten
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
the american journal on addictions
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.997
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1521-0391
pISSN - 1055-0496
DOI - 10.3109/10550490903205983
Subject(s) - relapse prevention , addiction , medicine , alcohol dependence , clinical psychology , alcohol , psychiatry , biochemistry , chemistry
Predicting relapse after alcoholism treatment can be useful in targeting patients for aftercare services. However, a valid and practical instrument for predicting relapse risk does not exist. Based on a prospective study ofalcoholism treatment, we developed the Risk of Alcoholic Relapse Scale (RARS) using items taken from the Addiction Severity Index and some basic demographic information. The RARS was cross‐validated using two non‐overlapping samples, and tested for its ability to predict relapse across different models of treatment. The RARS predicted relapse to drinking within 6 months after alcoholism treatment in both the original and the validation sample, and in a second validation sample it predicted admission to new treatment 3 years after treatment. The RARS can identify patients at high risk of relapse who need extra aftercare and support after treatment.