Couples relapse prevention sessions after behavioral marital therapy for male alcoholics: Outcomes during the three years after starting treatment

Objective: This article provides a complete report of outcome data from a study of behavioral marital therapy (BMT) with and without additional couples relapse prevention (RP) sessions. (See J. Stud. Alcohol 54: 652-666, 1993, for an earlier partial report.) Method: Fifty-nine couples with an alcoholic husband, after receiving weekly BMT couples sessions for 5-6 months, were assigned randomly to get or not get 15 additional couples relapse prevention (RP) sessions over the next 12 months. Outcome measures were collected before and after BMT and at quarterly intervals for the 30 months after BMT. Results: BMT-plus-RP produced more days abstinent and greater use of the Antabuse Contract than BMT-only; and these superior drinking outcomes for BMT-plus-RP lasted through 18-month follow-up (i.e., 6 months after the end of RP). BMT-plus-RP had better wives' marital adjustment than BMT-only throughout the 30 months of follow-up, with the superiority of BMT-plus-RP over BMT-only being greatest for wives with poorer pretreatment marital adjustment during me later months of follow-up. BMT-plus-RP also maintained their improved marriages longer (through 24-month follow-up) than BMT-only (through 12-month follow-up). Irrespective of treatment condition, more use of BMT-targeted marital behaviors (e.g., shared recreational activities, constructive communication) was associated with better marital and drinking outcomes throughout the 30-month follow-up period whereas more use of the Antabuse contract was associated with better marital and drinking outcomes through 12-month follow-up. Alcoholics with more severe marital problems had more abstinent days and maintained relatively stable levels of abstinence if they received BMT-plus-RP, while their counterparts who received BMT-only had fewer abstinent days and showed a steep decline in abstinent days during the 30 months of follow-up. Furthermore, alcoholics with more severe alcohol problems used the Antabuse contract more and showed a less steep decline in use of the Antabuse contract in the 30 months of follow-up if they received BMT-plus-RP than if they received BMT-only. Conclusions: For the entire sample, BMT-plus-RP produced better marital outcomes throughout the 30 months of follow-up and better drinking outcomes during and for the 6 months following RP sessions, relative to BMT-only outcomes. For alcoholics with more severe marital and drinking problems, BMT-plus-RP produced better drinking outcomes than BMT-only throughout the 30-month follow-up period.