Effects of the Klaibann Klaijai Program on the Care of Patients with Alcohol Dependence with Alcohol Withdrawal in a Psychiatric Clinic at Yasothon Hospital

Abstract

Alcohol-dependent patients who have experienced alcohol withdrawal syndrome are more likely to relapse after treatment and discharge from hospitals. To study the effect of a Klaibann Klaijai (close to home, Close to heart) Program on the behavior and consumption of alcohol among dependence patients who experienced alcohol withdrawal while being treated in the psychiatric clinics of Yasothon Hospital. This research was quasi-experimental with a two-group, pretest-posttest design conducted from 1 November 2017 to 30 September 2018. The sample consisted of 28 alcohol withdrawal patients. They were divided into an experimental group and a control group with 14 persons in each group. The evaluation tools included the Alcoholic Withdrawal Scale and the Alcohol Dependency Assessment (AUDIT) questionnaires in 3 aspects, nine components, five sessions with a 3-month and 6-month follow-up. The data were analyzed using non-parametric statistics, Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, and Mann-Whitney U tests. The results found after receiving 1-months, 3-months, and 6-months of program therapy, more members of the experimental group could stop drinking alcohol, increased from 7 to 8 and 9 persons, and did not return to drinking alcohol again, 7, 5, and 3, respectively, compared to the control group. The experimental group reduced the amount of alcohol intake from 99.28 to 7.5 drinks per week. The results of the pre and posttest comparison between the experimental and control groups showed that the experimental group had a statistically significant difference at 0.05 (p-value< 0.05) in their outcomes. Thus, it is concluded that this program could help effect behavior changes in alcohol dependency patients. Therefore, it should be implemented, or modified to be included, in health care services.