Date Awarded

1981

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Department

Education

Abstract

Alcohol abuse is a significant and formidable problem which affects the lives of an estimated 10 to 13 million people. of course, this figure does not adequately reflect the secondary effects of alcohol abuse on the millions of people who have a significant relationship with an alcohol abuser. It is not hard to understand then, the enormous amount of time, money, and energy spent on trying to prevent, treat, and recover from this problem.;This study focused on the treatment and recovery phases of alcohol abuse and was conducted in an attempt to determine whether or not two adjunct behavioral skills (covert modeling and progressive relaxation) could be effective when learned and practiced in conjunction with the more traditional tenets of the disease--medical model of alcohol abuse.;Chaney (1976), Marlatt (cited in Nathan et al., 1978) and Sobell and Sobell (1973) among others have advocated the need to teach alcoholics behavioral self-control skills and to practice new behaviors in order to strengthen the recovery process. In this study, a locus of control scale was used to measure this hypothesized change in perceived self-control and a 3-month follow-up of drinking behavior was used to evaluate effects on the recovery process.;In a review of the literature, it was found that alcoholics can and do change their Internal-External (I-E) scores toward internality (self control) as a function of participating in treatment (Oziel & Obitz, 1951; O'Leary, Donovan, Hague, & Shea, 1975; Kennedy, Gilbert, & Thoreson, 1978; Hettinger, 1976) and that other nonalcohol-abusing populations can also alter their control orientation as a function of therapeutic intervention (Dua, 1970; Gillis & Jessor, 1970; Pierce, Schauble, & Farkas, 1970).;Covert modeling procedures have been found to be effective in reducing snake avoidance (Kazdin, 1973, 1974a; Lowe, 1978) in increasing assertive behavior (Kazdin, 1974b. 1965a); and in reducing fear of laboratory rats (Cautela, 1974). Additionally, Hay et al. (1977) used covert modeling to successfully treat a case of chronic alcohol abuse and a case of obsessive-compulsive behavior.;The subjects for this study were 50 inpatients receiving treatment for alcohol abuse at Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg, Virginia. They were randomly assigned to five groups following a pretest administration of the Adult Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External Scale. The groups were as follows: (1) 10 subjects received a combination of covert modeling and progressive relaxation for four 30-minute sessions; (2) 10 subjects received only covert modeling for four 30-minute sessions; (3) 10 subjects received only progressive relaxation for four 30-minute sessions; (4) 10 subjects were assigned to the placebo-control group and engaged in four 30-minute discussion sessions; (5) 10 subjects were assigned to the no-treatment control group and received no adjunct behavioral treatment.;The results were as follows: (1) Subjects assigned to Group 1 were not significantly different from subjects in Groups 2, 3, 4 and 5 on a measure of locus of control change. They were, however, significantly different on a measure of follow-up drinking behavior. (2) Subjects assigned to Group 2 were not significantly different from subjects in Groups 3, 4, and 5 on either a measure of locus of control change or follow-up drinking behavior. (3) Subjects assigned to Group 3 were not significantly different from subjects in Groups 4 and 5 on either dependent measure. (4) Subjects assigned to Groups 1, 2 and 3 were not significantly different from subjects in Groups 4 and 5 on either dependent measure.;Recommendations were made for further research in this area.

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.25774/w4-x18j-jp50

Rights

© The Author

Download

Share Feedback

Share

COinS