Married male alcoholics (N = 36), who had recently begun individual outpatient alcoholism counseling, were randomly assigned to a no-marital-treatment control group or to 10 weekly sessions of either a behavioral marital therapy (BMT) or an interactional couples therapy group. Impotence decreased from before to after counseling irrespective of whether the alcoholic patients received additional marital therapy. Husbands who received BMT reported increased frequency of wives' orgasm during intercourse and greater increases in satisfaction with the privacy and context of their sexual activities than did couples in the other two treatment groups. These findings support a biopsychosocial formulation of alcoholics' sexual problems that implicates the physical effects of acute and chronic alcohol intake as most relevant to the elevated rates of impotence and marital conflict as a major contributing factor to most sexual problems of alcoholics. The improvement observed in sexual adjustment was rather limited. Despite the improvements in impotence, the alcoholics still experienced over twice the rate of impotence reported by demographically similar nonalcoholics. In terms of sexual satisfaction, BMT produced only modest gains as viewed by husbands and no gains from the wives' perspective. Perhaps sexual adjustment is one of the last areas of the alcoholic's marriage to improve after treatment. The limited time frame of the present study may have precluded observing further improvements in sexual adjustment that would emerge later after a longer period of recovery.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A Sexual Adjustment Questionnaire for use in therapy and research with alcoholics and their spouses.

Despite evidence of extensive sexual problems among alcoholics, sexual adjustment is an area of alcoholics' behavior that often has been neglected in both treatment and research. To facilitate work on alcoholics' sexual adjustment, we needed a self-report questionnaire on sexual behavior that we could use in our couples treatment program with alcoholics and in our longitudinal research on the course of alcoholics' sexual problems over time. Pilot work found that available sexual adjustment measures were either too long or too sexually explicit to be useful. This paper describes the 38-item Sexual Adjustment Questionnaire we developed by combining selected items from two existing measures. Factor analysis reduced the questionnaire to the 15 measures of sexual satisfaction and sexual dysfunction described herein. Preliminary normative data and evidence of construct validity, potential clinical and research uses of the questionnaire, and suggestions for future studies are described.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Alcoholics Anonymous affiliation during early recovery.

This study analyzed the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) participation of 55 patients during the 3 months after their discharge from structured treatment, when dropout is high. Three levels of meeting attendance were discerned: low, mid-level, and "90 meetings in 90 days." Of greatest interest, the mid-level group showed mixed interest in AA practices despite substantial meeting attendance, that is, they admitted powerlessness, but had less enthusiasm for the higher power concept, and relapsed significantly; they were likely to have a sponsor, but were less involved with other AA members; and they reported working the 12 Steps, but were less interested in the AA literature. Findings suggest that individuals who are attending AA but having difficulty embracing key aspects of the program need professional assistance that focuses more on AA practices and tenets and less on meeting attendance. Barriers to affiliation can also serve as opportunities for furthering both counseling goals and affiliation.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Nurses' attitudes and expectations toward psychiatric patients with multiple readmissions.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Adult↗