What is Alcoholics Anonymous Affiliation?
Abstract; An increasing body of research evidence supports the use of 12-step program affiliation as an effective adjunct and aftercare for formal treatment.
Recently, three brief (9- or 10-item) measures of affiliation have been developed. However, the brief scales are difficult to interpret, and the question of exactly what is affiliation (or disaffiliation) remains unclear. This analysis examines the question of what is the essence of affiliation vs. disaffiliation.
Data from the Project MATCH 1-year post-treatment Alcoholics Anonymous Involvement (AAI) scale (N = 1506) are used to identify the most salient items of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) affiliation predicting 1-year post-treatment drinking outcomes. Analysis using stepwise regression suggests that a three-item solution can explain a similar amount of variance in the proportion of days abstinent in months 9 through 12 post-treatment, as does using the nine items.
These three "core items predicting recovery" include
- AA attendance,
- Number of steps completed, and
- Identifying self as an AA member.
As an affiliation composite scale, these three items are easier to interpret and administer than the full AAI scale, and when combined, possess adequate reliability.
Thus, therapists can assess the degree of AA affiliation with these three parameters.
Research report; What is Alcoholics Anonymous Affiliation? Richard N. Cloud; Craig H. Ziegler; Richard D. Blondell. Substance Use & Misuse, Volume 39, Issue 7 December 2004, pages 1117 – 1136
These 3 parameters are suggested in the Brief-TSF manual.
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