Abstract
Objectives: To assess the effects of mindfulness-based relapse prevention for alcohol dependence (MBRP-A) intervention on drinking and related consequences. Methods: 123 alcohol-dependent adults in early recovery, recruited from outpatient treatment programs, were randomly assigned to MBRP-A (intervention plus usual-care; N = 64) or Control (usual-care-alone; N = 59) group. MBRP-A consisted of eight-weekly sessions and home practice. Outcomes were assessed at baseline, 8 weeks and 26 weeks (18 weeks post-intervention), and compared between groups using repeated measures analysis. Results: Outcome analysis included 112 participants (57 MBRP-A; 55 Control) who provided follow-up data. Participants were 41.0 ± 12.2 years old, 56.2% male, and 91% white. Prior to “quit date,” they reported drinking on 59.4 ± 34.8% (averaging 6.1 ± 5.0 drinks/day) and heavy drinking (HD) on 50.4 ± 35.5% of days. Their drinking reduced after the “quit date” (before enrollment) to 0.4 ± 1.7% (HD: 0.1 ± 0.7%) of days. At 26 weeks, the MBRP-A and control groups reported any drinking on 11.5 ± 22.5% and 5.9 ± 11.6% of days and HD on 4.5 ± 9.3% and 3.2 ± 8.7% of days, respectively, without between-group differences (ps ≥ 0.05) in drinking or related consequences during the follow-up period. Three MBRP-A participants reported “relapse,” defined as three-consecutive HD days, during the study. Subgroup analysis indicated that greater adherence to session attendance and weekly home practice minutes were associated with improved outcomes. Conclusions: MBRP-A as an adjunct to usual-care did not show to improve outcomes in alcohol-dependent adults in early recovery compared to usual-care-alone; a return to drinking and relapse to HD were rare in both groups. However, greater adherence to MBRP-A intervention may improve long-term drinking-related outcomes.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 8-17 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment |
Volume | 100 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 2019 |
Funding
This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (grant number K23AA017508 ); the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) program through the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (grant number UL1TR000427 ). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
Keywords
- Alcohol dependence
- Alcoholism
- Meditation
- Mindfulness
- Relapse prevention
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Clinical Psychology
- Phychiatric Mental Health
- Medicine (miscellaneous)