Hearing the noise in the system. Exploration of textual analysis as a method for studying change in drinking behaviour

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Abstract
This paper explores how treatment research is to catch within its design those many unplanned influences which lie outside therapeutic control, but which may influence processes of change. These factors are excluded from the conventional controlled trial. The background literature is briefly reviewed. A study is then described which employed a computer assisted method of textual analysis and an entirely open-ended coding system. The material which was analysed derived from interviews with 49 subjects whose accounts were tape recorded 10 years after treatment contact. Episodes of successful or unsuccessful 'change attempt' (CA) were identified. The two types of CA were compared in relation to coded issues pertaining to the periods before, during and after the episode. A number of significant findings are reported. In the pre-attempt phase 'Success' CAs were significantly associated with traumatic events in the person's life, and with a variety of positive and negative events. During the 'attempt' phase, 'Success' was associated with choice of an abstinence goal. For 'post-attempt', 'Success' was associated with 'Substitution', 'Altruism', 'Fulfillment', and finding the process 'Difficult'. The very preliminary nature of these findings is stressed and the need for further rigorous methodological development.

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