Service to Others in Sobriety (SOS)

Abstract

Alcoholics Anonymous participation has been measured in addiction research, but few validated tools distinguish components of this multidimensional construct. This study provides psychometric findings for the scale Service to Others in Sobriety, a brief assessment of AA-related helping. Data are derived from a sample of treatment-seeking alcoholics, and Service to Others in Sobriety validity and response stability is reported by using a test-retest sample. Findings demonstrated adequate psychometric properties of the Service to Others in Sobriety, including convergent validity, internal consistency (alpha D 0.92) and test-rest reliability (r D 0.94). The Service to Others in Sobriety is a valid measure of AArelated helping activities pertinent to the daily lives of recovering alcoholics.

The Open Door Mission: Measuring and Predicting Outcomes of One Community-Based Substance Abuse Treatment Program

“…This may help direct the client toward a more successful outcome. As discussed above, previous studies demonstrate that variables such as working with a sponsor, step work, greater involvement with the recovery fellowship, and sponsoring others have strong associations with long-term abstinence (Miller, 1998;Montgomery et al, 1995;Pagano et al, 2009;Pagano et al, 2010). Similarly, our analysis demonstrates association of 12-Step recovery variables with better outcomes.…”

“…By making these minor changes of removing two seemingly insignificant variables, the Bayesian network model suggested the second strongest variable dependency relationship seen throughout our data analysis: a relationship between the modified CAS score and the service with others variable. Service with others was identified in our literature review to be one of the strongest behavioral elements associated with long-term sobriety (Cloud, Ziegler, & Blondell, 2004;Miller, 1998;Montgomery et al, 1995;Pagano et al, 2009;Pagano et al, 2010;Tonigan, Connors, & Miller, 1996). This one variable, not coincidentally, is the central focus of the 12th…”

Daily Spiritual Experiences and Adolescent Treatment Response

“…Consistent with a central theme in the AA literature, recent research (on adults and adolescents) confirms that narcissism feeds addiction, while benevolence counters it (Carter et al, 2012; Kelly, Hoeppner, Stout, & Pagano, 2011; Pagano et al, 2010; Pagano et al, 2011; Pagano, White, et al, 2013). Religion/spirituality may serve as a key that unlocks the door to benevolent service (Lee et al, 2013) and therefore has important implications for research on addiction.…”

Influence of Religiosity on 12-Step Participation and Treatment Response Among Substance-Dependent Adolescents

“…At the end of treatment, each subject's primary counselor rated the youth's AA/NA-related helping participation as observed over the 2-month treatment period. The SOS has demonstrated good psychometric properties with treatment-seeking samples, signifi cant association with increased abstinence (Pagano et al, 2009a;Pagano et al, 2010b), and good internal reliability with the current sample α = .88). Meeting attendance was assessed with one item from the GAATOR, "During the past 90 days, how many 12-step meetings have you attended?"…”

“…The total GAATOR score has shown good to excellent internal consistency, signifi cant association with increased abstinence (Montgomery et al, 1995;Tonigan et al, 2000), and good internal reliability with the current sample (Cronbach's α > .80). The SOS (Pagano et al, 2010b) is a 12-item self-report of AA/NA-related helping; each item is rated on a 5-point Likert scale from 1 (rarely) to 5 (always) and summed for a total SOS score (range: 12-60). At intake, youth completed the SOS because they were the best informants of AA/NArelated helping before treatment.…”