Assessment of coping in Al-Anon attending family members of problem drinking relatives

Abstract

Family members of problem drinking relatives often experience high levels of chronic stress and pervasive negative effects on their own functioning, health and wellbeing. The Al-Anon Family Groups offer support to individuals who have been affected by the problem drinking of a relative or friend. We incorporated the Coping Questionnaire into a cross-sectional survey to examine the experiences and coping styles of 25 Al-Anon attending family members in Australia. Based on comparative scores reported by seven previous studies, our findings indicated significantly more adaptive coping by family members who attended Al-Anon.