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Intensive 12 Step Referrals Enhance Recovery

Participation in 12-Step self-help groups has been shown to both reduce post-treatment relapse and the need to repeat treatment. A recent VA study compared two different kinds of 12-Step referral: standard and intensive.
For standard referral, patients received a schedule for local 12-Step meetings and were encouraged to attend. For intensive referral, counselors linked patients with 12-Step volunteers and encouraged the use of journals to record 12-Step meeting attendance. Study participants (n=345) – patients in a 28-day treatment program – were randomly assigned to one or the other and subsequently asked to self-report on their 12-Step meeting attendance and involvement, as well as their substance use at baseline, six months and one year later. Patients who received intensive referral fared better than patients who received standard referral. More specifically, these individuals were more likely to attend and be involved with 12-Step groups at both six months and one year after beginning and also improved more on their alcohol and drug-use outcomes for the year. Study authors call intensive-referral intervention both brief and feasible and recommend its use by primary-care physicians, employee-assistance programs, and members of the clergy.

(Timko, C, DeBenedetti, A: A randomized controlled trial of intensive referral to 12-Step self-help groups: One-year outcomes. Drug and Alcohol Dependence 90:270-279, 2007.)

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