Hot topic search results

Effectiveness bank home page. Opens new window Hot topic search results

You have found 119 entries after clicking the GO button or a search link in a hot topic. Sorted by the main topic addressed, 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.

Click blue titles to view full text in a new window
Use the selectors at the bottom to turn to the next page in the list of documents
Re-order the list by the most recently added or updated entries or by the most recently published documents


If you have not found what you want you could:
Select from the full range of topics and search options available on our topic search page.
Instead try a free text search for documents which contain the words you specify.
Or try browsing back issues of the magazine or the more recent email bulletins.
Try the information services provided by partner agencies.
Tried everything? E-mail the Findings editor for help by clicking on this logo Drug and Alcohol Findings logo



HOT TOPIC 2018 HTM file
Can 12-step mutual aid bridge recovery resources deficit?

‘Hot topics’ offer background and analysis on important issues which sometimes generate heated debate. Can mutual aid groups based on AA’s 12 steps help bridge the gap between heightened ambition for recovery from addiction and diminished public resources. That largely depends on whether the worldwide popularity of the steps is matched by evidence of effectiveness.

REVIEW 2019 HTM file
The efficacy of spiritual/religious interventions for substance use problems: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Around the world, programmes which take a spiritual or overtly religious route to overcoming substance use problems are extremely common and in some countries dominant – but do they work any better than the alternatives? This review systematically sifted the evidence from the past 30 years.

STUDY 2004 PDF file 140Kb
Crack: making and sustaining the break

The first UK follow-up study of service use by crack users revealed that after residential crisis intervention practically none avoided relapse without the aid of follow-on treatment, especially residential rehabilitation and attending mutual aid groups.

STUDY 2007 HTM file
Day hospital and residential addiction treatment: randomized and nonrandomized managed care clients

By selecting clients at the very edge of ethically requiring referral to residential care, this US study confirms that unless there are pressing contraindications, intensive non-residential options deliver equivalent outcomes. Often of course, there ARE pressing contraindications.

STUDY 2008 HTM file
Self-financing resident-run houses maintain recovery after treatment

A US recovery model has proved its effectiveness in a rare randomised trial of a mutual aid intervention. The self-financing structure may help overcome restrictions on the supply and duration of residential rehabilitation in the UK.

STUDY 2000 PDF file 150Kb
Quality drug counselling can be at least as effective as professional psychotherapy

A major US government attempt to refine drug-free treatments for cocaine addiction confounded expectations by showing that well structured counselling approaches can better professionally delivered psychotherapies.

STUDY 2008 HTM file
Network support for drinking: an application of multiple groups growth mixture modeling to examine client-treatment matching

Reanalysis of the huge US Project MATCH alcohol treatment trial confirms that patients with pro-drinking social circles gained greater remission in drink problems when 'matched' to a therapy focused on generating a social circle (in the form of AA) with the opposite characteristics.

STUDY 2006 PDF file 114Kb
Self-help groups: transformation from helped to helper promotes recovery

Two US studies of drinkers and cocaine dependents respectively suggest that an identity transformation from someone capable only of receiving help to someone who makes a contribution by helping others is key to the impact of 12-step mutual groups.

STUDY 2011 HTM file
Shared decision-making: increases autonomy in substance-dependent patients

An innovative Dutch study tested a way of involving substance users as equals in decisions over issues addressed in their treatment. The effect was to give these typically submissive personalities a greater sense of control over their lives. Just as influential was the lead offered by the clinician's personality.

STUDY 2011 HTM file
ModerateDrinking.com and Moderation Management: outcomes of a randomized clinical trial with non-dependent problem drinkers

Does it help to add a structured internet-based therapeutic programme to web access to a mutual aid network also geared to moderate drinking? Sustained extra moderation in the form of fewer days drinking was the clearest positive effect; less clear was whether it led to greater reductions in drink-related problems.


Select search results page

PREVIOUS | NEXT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12