Damage reduction and alcohol drinking reduction programs in social welfare homes as an alternative to traditional abstinence interventions

Introduction. At present, there is only one social welfare home (DPS) in Poland for alcohol addicts, and two units of this type have wards specializing in alcohol addiction, so few have a chance to stay in a DPS. Alcohol addicted residents of DPS often have had many unsuccessful attempts to take addiction therapy, so the likelihood that another stay in a specialized center will bring a permanent change in stopping alcohol consumption is low. The purpose of the article is to popularise knowledge among social welfare homes workers about the programs of reducing alcohol consumption and reducing the caused damage. Method. In order to provide knowledge about these programs, the traditional goal of addiction therapy and prevention, which is to achieve long-term abstinence, has been compared with damage reduction and alcohol consumption programs. Results. Although employees of social welfare homes are already implementing elements of the damage reduction program, for example by skipping the administration of drugs to drunk residents or looking after the health status of alcohol intoxicated residents, there is still a lack of systematic actions aimed at the full implementation of programs to reduce drinking and health and social damage caused by alcohol problems in DPS. Conclusions. An alternative to the limited number of places for addicted residents of social welfare homes in specialized types of centers may be the implementation of programs to reduce alcohol consumption and reduction of alcohol-related damage in various types of social welfare homes throughout the country. Their implementation may also increase the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions against alcohol addicted residents of DPS.