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The evidence is now clear that more than one half of those who have a lifetime addiction to alcohol or drugs will eventually achieve stable recovery. As documented in the Life in Recovery surveys and elsewhere, recovery often brings about positive changes across a diverse range of life domains. Although this suggests that there are some universal experiences of recovery, there has been a lack of comparative recovery research examining the variations in recovery experiences across different settings and cultures. Using a combined data set of the United Kingdom and Australian Life in Recovery surveys and the three-stage model of recovery, the authors compare life achievements at each stage across the two settings. There are differences in patterns of recovery, with elevated levels of ongoing mental health problems in Australia, and significant involvement with the criminal justice system in the United Kingdom, suggesting a contextual and structural role in understanding recovery pathways. The implications for policy and practice are reviewed around structural barriers and the role of social justice in advancing recovery models and pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated Pillars of Recovery, a 12-session group and individual session program for comorbid substance dependence and mental health problems. Service users (n= 42) were assessed at baseline and after completing the program. Postintervention, statistically significant improvements were found across a number of outcomes. Effect sizes indicated that these improvements were robust and significant. In addition, significantly fewer service users were above the validated clinical cutoff scores on psychometric measures of substance dependence, depression, anxiety, and impaired social functioning indicating some clinical improvements. Findings would indicate this program may represent a promising treatment, and more effectiveness research is under way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was based on a peer snowballing method involving members of a service users group in Birmingham, United Kingdom, who were asked to identify and interview members of their peer networks who had achieved 'sustained recovery' of one year. Two hundred and nineteen individuals were recruited who defined themselves as being in recovery, consisting of 132 individuals in medication maintained recovery and 87 in abstinent recovery. Those in maintained recovery were more anxious about using heroin and had lower self-efficacy, worse physical health, poorer quality of life, and more peer group members still using. Being older was associated with greater quality of life (rather than time since last use) supporting a 'maturing out' hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the academic sources and origins of the 'recovery movement' in the drugs field in the United Kingdom and considers a series of disparate evidence sources that have been applied and used in this regard. Only two of these originate in traditional addictions materials-treatment outcome and cohort studies-with the remaining studies reviewed coming from a range of other areas. In particular, the sources include a switch in focus from the specialist treatment clinic to the community, and from the therapeutic to the more broadly social. The framework for this approach is explicitly developmental and attends to the published research around crime careers and addiction careers. The final sections of the article review recent UK addiction recovery research and assess where we are and what we currently know-and as a consequence the key gaps and the methodological questions that need to be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In both Scotland and England, recovery has emerged as a key concept in public policy and has informed the national strategies in each country. This high-level commitment has provided a major opportunity for the establishment of 'recovery-oriented systems of care' in each country but with differences in both the content of the policy and in the mechanisms for implementation. This article discusses questions around implementation and the issue of time scales, with implications for changing cultures and practices in provider agencies and commissioning practices at a local level. Much of this debate concerns attempts to operationalize 'recovery' at an individual level and to create meaningful measures of recovery process and outcome. The overview and discussion component will review the challenges faced in attempting to translate recovery policy at a national level into meaningful systems at a local level and the likely impact this will have on individuals and communities attempting to initiate their own recovery journeys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recovery group participation is relevant to both clinical and research activity. Its measurement with the Recovery Group Participation Scale (RGPS) is an attempt to have a measurement of participation across a range of recovery groups. The factor structure, among other psychometric properties of the scale, is however, undefined. The present study examined the factor structure of the RGPS in alcohol and drug recovery populations in Birmingham and Glasgow, United Kingdom. Participants from the Birmingham (n = 219) and Glasgow (n = 205) recovery studies who had a completed form of the RGPS formed the basis for the factor structure examination. Principal component analysis extracted one factor, which accounted for 39.3% and 67.4% in the Birmingham and the Glasgow samples, respectively. Overall scores on the RGPS were associated with higher quality-of-life scores and with greater self-esteem and social networks of nonusers in recovery. The key question that remains to be addressed is the evolving role of recovery group participation in prospective studies of growth of recovery capital and sustained recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]