The results of the UK Alcohol Treatment Trial have just been published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ). UKATT compared what appeared at the outset of the trial to be an exciting new treatment - social behaviour and network therapy - with the proven MET (motivational enhancement therapy). Both were similarly effective in terms of reducing alcohol consumption and improving other outcomes, and about equally cost effective.
If the researchers are disappointed that SBNT hasn't proved better than MET, they don't show it in the BMJ. I seem to remember lead researcher Jim Orford talking very enthusiastically about SBNT at a conference in the early days of the trial, and it did make a lot of sense: try to change the drinker's behaviour and also the social environment in which s/he lives and drinks.
However, what the researchers have done is show that SBNT works in reducing alcohol problems, and that both it and MET are cost effective - saving five times the cost of these treatments in reduced generic health and social care costs. And that's good to know.
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