The acceptability of a family based alcohol intervention to Aboriginal clients of a rural Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service and drug and alcohol treatment agency

Background and Aims

• Aboriginal Australians experience a disproportionate burden of alcohol related harm, relative to non-Aboriginal Australians (Calabria et al., 2010).
• Family based approaches can be effective for reducing alcohol related harms among high risk drinkers (Miller and Wilbourne, 2002; Smit et al., 2008; Templeton et al., 2010) and family relationships have a vital role for the cohesion and wellbeing of Aboriginal communities (McLennan and Khavarpour, 2004).
• The Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) program (targeting family members/friends of problem drinkers), adapted for Aboriginal people, offers great potential to reduce alcohol related harms (Calabria et al., under review). The Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA) is a similar program targeting problem drinkers.
• This study aims to describe the acceptability of CRA and CRAFT to Aboriginal clients of a rural Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service (ACCHS) and drug and alcohol treatment agency.