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You have found 35 entries. Starting with the most recently added or updated entries, the list shows in orange the type of entry, year the original document was published (or if one of our own documents, the year last updated), and the type of file you will download when you click on the title. In blue is the document’s title followed by a brief description.

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STUDY 2010 HTM file
Naltrexone and combined behavioral intervention effects on trajectories of drinking in the COMBINE study

Reanalysis of the largest US study of medication-based alcoholism treatment confirms that either naltrexone or psychological therapy improved outcomes more than medical care and placebos, while the two in combination or acamprosate added little. It also revealed previously invisible benefits when certain types of patients received certain treatments.

STUDY 2009 HTM file
The alliance in motivational enhancement therapy and counseling as usual for substance use problems

Rarely has counselling been so deeply analysed as in this US study of mainly alcohol and cocaine dependent patients. The far-reaching implications are that some counsellors generate relationships with clients which feed through to better outcomes – but also that the 'best' relationship builders are not on average the most effective.

DOCUMENT 2013 HTM file
Sometimes best to break the rules

Motivational interviewing’s ‘Do not dos’ like avoiding confrontation were intended to sidestep the traps which provoke clients to dig in their heels or disengage. Imagine then the upset of discovering that in certain circumstances, the opposite is the case; the explanation appeared to lie in coming across as ‘genuine’.

STUDY 2005 HTM file
How does motivational interviewing work? Therapist skill predicts client involvement within motivational interviewing sessions

Analysis of counselling session recordings from therapists trained in motivational interviewing suggests that the important quality of seeming 'genuine' can suffer if training mandates unnaturally withholding normal responses; however, departing from these tenets is risky unless done by a socially skilled therapist.

STUDY 2011 HTM file
Delivering alcohol brief interventions in the community justice setting: evaluation of a pilot project

Though drinking problems were widespread, Scottish probation and community service staff were unconvinced of the appropriateness of screening their offender clients for risky drinking and (if indicated) offering brief advice. Not a priority, was the common feeling.

STUDY 2010 HTM file
Routine alcohol screening and brief interventions in general hospital in-patient wards: acceptability and barriers

At three London hospitals 4% of inpatients completed a brief alcohol intervention after being screened for hazardous drinking by ward staff. Staff were positive and on one ward nearly half the patients were screened and one in ten counselled, but the overall results are unlikely to dent the public health burden imposed by risky drinking.

STUDY 2009 HTM file
Randomized controlled trial of a cognitive-behavioral motivational intervention in a group versus individual format for substance use disorders

For US problem drinkers and drug users not at the severest end of the spectrum, four sessions of group were as effective as four of individual therapy but took much fewer therapist hours per patient. The little research we have suggests this a common finding, commending group approaches on cost-effectiveness grounds.

STUDY 2009 HTM file
What makes group MET work? A randomized controlled trial of college student drinkers in mandated alcohol diversion

US students who broke college drinking rules and were required to undertake an alcohol programme responded better to three hours of group motivational interviewing than six of alcohol education; enhanced confidence that they could resist risky drinking was the key. For colleges it offers an effective but economical response to problem drinkers.

STUDY 2009 HTM file
Patient reactance as a moderator of the effect of therapist structure on posttreatment alcohol use

Confirmation from the US Project MATCH alcohol treatment trial that too explicitly imposing structure on therapy risks relatively poor outcomes among patients reluctant to relinquish control and who react against direction – and a further indication that this pattern is not universal, but depends on the context.

STUDY 2011 HTM file
Fidelity to motivational interviewing and subsequent cannabis cessation among adolescents

Offering valuable clues to how best to do motivational interviewing, this London study of cannabis-using students found they were most likely to stop using after brief interventions which embodied the spirit of the approach and featured responses from the counsellor reflecting back and elaborating on the student's comments.


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