Comparison of court-referred DWI arrestees with other outpatients in substance abuse treatment.

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Abstract
Outpatient treatment based on the "Minnesota Model" as one alternative for alcoholics arrested for driving while intoxicated (DWI) was examined. DWI arrestees (N = 543) who were court referred for chemical abuse treatment were compared with 827 non-DWI and non-court-referred patients in the same outpatient treatment programs. Results indicate that DWI arrestees tended to be younger and unmarried but were more likely to complete treatment. Their drinking was characterized more as an episodic use in a social context with less solitary use, continuous use or use as a response to negative feelings. Although the DWI patients in this study were all alcoholics, as a group they appear to represent a generally less advanced stage of alcoholism than the non-DWI sample. Posttreatment follow-up measures at 6 months on subsamples of the patients demonstrated improvement for both DWI and non-DWI patients in virtually all areas assessed. Few outcome differences between DWI and non-DWI groups were found. The results indicate that outpatient substance abuse treatment may be a viable and vital component in any integrated policy on drunken driving.