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Reyes-Huerta, H. E., Vacio, Ángeles, Pedroza, F., Salazar, M., & Martínez, K. (2018). The Recovery from Alcohol Consumption: Analysis of the Construct of Relapse. International Journal of Psychological Research, 11(1), 70–82. https://doi.org/10.21500/20112084.3252
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Abstract

Objective: A systematic review was conducted to identify definitions that facilitated the study of relapse as both behavioral pattern and process. Methods: The review was conducted following the PRISMA-P guidelines. Articles that met the following inclusion criteria were considered: (a) published in peerreviewed journals, (b) provided an explicit operational definition of relapse, (c) assessed relapse during or after a specific psychological or self-care group intervention, (d) focused on alcohol consumption, and (e) were published between 2000 and September 2016. Results: “Any drinking” was the most frequent outcome used to identify relapse, although other discrete outcomes were also considered. Nevertheless, none of the definitions operationalize the notion of the return to a problematic drinking pattern and/or the process of relapse. Conclusion: Problems related to any drinking definition are discussed and we propose the use of a composed index to study relapse.

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