Adapting motivational interviewing strategies to increase posttreatment 12-step meeting attendance

Recent twelve-step (TS) program research has suggested a dose threshold consisting of minimum weekly TS meeting attendance that is necessary to derive substantial benefit. Unfortunately, other research has observed the vast majority of patients do not attend meetings or attend sporadically in the period following treatment. As another example of research advancing our understanding of recovery processes, numerous studies have refined adaptations of Motivational Interviewing (MI) into a change theory with proven practice methods. This paper reviews related literature and provides rationale for the use of a brief motivational intervention to increase TS program attendance. The paper concludes by addressing two possible problems to implementing such an intervention: (1) Resistance within the culture of the addiction counseling field and (2) a lack of objective and normative TS program feedback data. We respond to this latter gap in the literature by advancing possible specimen feedback data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) (journal abstract)