Aim: The treatment of alcohol addiction in Italy has had a progressive evolution of therapeutic structures for in-and outpatients. During the last 20 years there had been a crescent presence of short residential treatment facilities (1-6 months) characterized by a high level of medical and psychotherapeutic intervention. About two years ago 12 of them jointed together in an association called CORRAL (COordinamento of Residenzialità Riabilitive Alcologiche). The aim of this study was to describe the socio-demographic medical and other characteristics of the patients coming for this type of treatment and to describe the characteristics of the residential treatment itself including referring and aftercare.
Methods: Two thousand sixty-one hospitalized patients of the 12 rehabilitative alcohol units were examined by using a questionnaire and collecting various sociodemographic variables and clinical diagnosis of the patients. Even it was asked who had referred the patients, the characteristics of the residential treatment and of the planned aftercare.
Results: The present residential facilities are mainly distributed in the North of Italy. The typical patient is male, with a high school instruction and with a comorbidity regarding psychiatric and liver disorders. The majority of the patients were referred by the public ambulatory services for addictions (SerT/SerD). The characteristics of the residential treatment were medical, pharmacological and psychotherapeutic interventions with a high intensity and the presence of a general-purpose staff.
Conclusions: This study outlined a model of residential rehabilitation of alcohol disorders characterized by short duration and a complex, intense therapeutic intervention mainly addressed to patients with a severe clinical condition and a low level of social problems. Further research should be useful to understand better which sort of patient characteristics obtain a better clinical result and for that even economically a major effectiveness from this type of residential treatment.