Alcohol Behavioral Couple Therapy (ABCT) has emerged over the last 30 years as a highly efficacious treatment for those with alcohol use disorders. This review highlights the historical and conceptual underpinnings of ABCT, as well as the specific treatment elements and structure. Proposed active ingredients, moderators, and mediators of treatment outcome are discussed. Efficacy is evaluated for reductions in identified patient drinking, improved relationship functioning, and reductions in intimate partner violence. Adaptations of ABCT for substances other than alcohol are described. Other adaptations, including brief interventions, interventions addressing PTSD and TBI along with alcohol use, and interventions deliverable via technology platforms are described. Additional cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness findings supporting the economic value of ABCT are noted. Future directions for research in this area include possible adaptations for female identified patients, non-traditional couples, LGBT partners and dyads involving non-intimate partner relationships. The development of more flexible models and enhanced dissemination strategies may improve clinical uptake and utility as well as increasing the feasibility of this treatment for integrated healthcare settings.

The majority of people with alcohol use disorders do not seek formal treatment. Research on barriers to help-seeking have only recently focused on ethnic minority populations. The present study investigated the extent to which an adult American Indian (AI) sample experienced similar and/or unique barriers to help-seeking as have been reported in the literature. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, 56 (54% male) AIs with lifetime alcohol dependence completed a semistructured face-to-face interview and a self-administered written survey. Interviews were tape recorded, transcribed, and coded for four major themes: personal barriers, pragmatic barriers, concerns about seeking help, and social network barriers. Quantitative data provided percentage endorsing each survey item and strength of each barrier, which were categorized according to the four major themes. In previous research, most barriers questionnaires have not queried for cultural concerns or how the specific type of help may be a mismatch from the client's perspective. Given the rapidly changing racial/ethnic demography in the United States, further research addressing cultural and spiritual concerns as well as more common barriers is indicated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).

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Objectives Alcohol Behavioral Couple Therapy (ABCT) is an efficacious treatment for alcohol use disorders. Coding treatment integrity can shed light on the active ingredients of ABCT, but there are no published studies of treatment integrity instruments for ABCT. The present study describes the development and initial reliability of the Treatment Integrity Rating System – Couples Version (C-TIRS) for ABCT. Methods The C-TIRS was used to rate 284 first- and mid-treatment ABCT sessions of 188 couples in four randomized clinical trials. Results Average inter-rater reliability for distinguishing ratings between C-TIRS items was fair-to-good for quantity items (intraclass correlation [ICC] = 0.64) and poor-to-fair for quality items (ICC = 0.41). Five C-TIRS subscales were defined a priori to measure treatment components involving cognitive-behavioral therapy, spouse involvement, couple therapy, common therapeutic factors, and overall adherence to the treatment protocol and had adequate internal reliability (α = 0.74–0.89). Inter-rater reliability was fair to good on seven of ten scales but poor on three scales (ICC range = 0.17–0.72). Conclusions The C-TIRS was designed to provide information about quantity and quality of the delivery of ABCT components; however, further refinement of the C-TIRS is warranted before it should be used in frontline practice. Clinical implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is one of the most commonly accessed resources for individuals seeking to reduce their drinking. How urban Native Americans fare in AA is only beginning to be investigated in spite of circumstantial evidence suggesting that a majority of treatment-seeking urban Native Americans will receive 12-step treatment. Even less is known about Native American gender differences with regard to AA-related benefit. The current study addressed this gap by investigating urban Native American gender differences in AA attendance rates and outcomes. To this end, as part of two larger NIH-funded studies we recruited 63 Native American men and women and followed them for 9 months in this naturalistic study (n= 35 males, n = 28 females). Urban Native Americans significantly reduced their drinking over the study period, and AA attendance explained, in part, increased abstinence of study participants. No significant differences in AA attendance and drinking outcomes were observed between Native American men and women; however, descriptively men reported greater reductions in hazardous drinking relative to women. Clinical implications and future directions are discussed.