Alcoholism as Career

Situation in life, use of alcohol and alcohol career of alcoholics.

Topics: 1. illness case history by doctor in attendance.

2. theme conversation: reference person and judgement on relationship with
this person; contact intensity; judgement on common leisure behavior with
reference person; perceived changes in the relation; frequency and type
of conflicts; problem solution resulting from conflicts; sexual
practices sober and drunk; responsibility for raising children and care
of children; judgement on contact with one´s own parents; significance
of family and occupation; satisfaction with housework (only for
housewives); reasons for non-marriage (only for singles); detailed
information on professional career; frequency of changes of company and
reasons for these; work orientation; anomy; detailed information on
general ability to establish contacts and alcohol-specific changes of
this ability to establish contacts; memberships; hobby; leisure
activities; watching television; feeling of boredom; detailed
information on personal alcohol career; place and effects of the use of
alcohol; difficulties experienced from the use of alcohol and resulting
sanctions; measures and treatments against the use of alcohol; assumed
heterostereotype of the alcoholic or a former alcoholic; assumed
reasons for alcoholism; number of alcohol-specific treatments before
the current treatment; time of first or last treatment; type of
treatment; treatment length; type of resulting therapies and result
evaluation; initiators of earlier treatments and manner of admission;
resulting stigmatization after earlier treatments; relapses and relapse
situation; personal readiness for and attitude of social surroundings
to stationary treatment; delinquency; current legal status (legally
incapacitated); current manner of admission; participation of others in
the compulsory hospitalization; cause for admission; changes in
relations through readiness for treatment; personal expectations of the
clinic stay; cooperative conduct in personal therapy; concept of a
clinic and therapy; length of stay sought; attitude to treatment of
alcoholics in the psychiatric ward; attitude to secrecy of the clinic
stay; expected difficulties in the future; assessment of the future
situation with occupation and family; follow-up treatments; ideas about
further aid measures; personal infidelity or infidelity of partner;
length of infidelity; condition of health of partner.

Also encoded was the consistency of patient statements and file
records; suicide attempts; suicide as threat or attempt to kill
oneself.

Demography: sex; age; marital status; religious denomination; place of
residence and size of place of residence; size of place of birth;
geographic mobility in the first years of life; child-raising persons;
changes of family situation in childhood; number of siblings; position
in sibling sequence; occupation of father or mother; occupational
position of father or mother; judgement on economic conditions in one´s
family during one´s childhood; age of spouse and age difference between
partners; number of children; personal school education and that of
partner; vocational training; personal employment and that of partner;
personal occupation last learned or practiced and that of partner;
income of head of household; type of right of disposal over income;
respondent is head of household; characteristics of head of household;
residential status.

3. catamnese after about one year: amount of time passed since
discharge; place and type of interview; participants in the interview;
survey atmosphere; survey behavior; atmosphere between the patient and
his partner; information on proportion of conversation between patient
and partner; residential status; perceived changes regarding the time
of case history; size of residence; condition of residence; changes in
marital status; changes in living together during the clinic time or in
the time after the clinic stay; reference person and judgement on
relations; right of disposal over income; contact intensity; reasons
for conflict; problem solutions through conflicts; changes in family
life and sexuality; changes in social contacts; leisure activities;
watching television and feeling of boredom; occupational changes;
vertical mobility; unemployment; reasons for lay-off; side jobs;
employment of partner; primary bread-winner; problems in the search for
work; influence of unemployment on personal self-esteem; detailed
information on treatment career and ambulatory contacts; information on
development of use of alcohol after clinic stay; resulting relapse;
concealment of clinic stay or alcoholism; reactions to clinic stay;
participation in social life; stigmatization of partner; alcohol or
pill use of partner; support recived; change of company after clinic
stay; current source of income; number of clinic stays; marriage
length; dissatisfaction with ward life; anomy; delinquency; number of
suicide attempts; manner of admission; length of stays on psychiatric
ward and in prison.