What is a rehabilitation unit?

A rehabilitation unit is an institution that provides care and support to enable a return to a healthy life after a period of illness. In this context we are concerned with alcohol rehabilitation units which provide care and support for people suffering from alcoholism. A rehabilitation unit will often provide both the medical and psychological care needed to treat alcoholism. As such, in the UK, a rehabilitation unit will usually provide both alcohol detox and on-going psychological rehabilitation, both of which are commonly necessary to achieve recovery from alcoholism.

As far as the rehab element of treatment is concerned, there are various types of rehabilitation unit - twelve step rehabilitation unit, therapeutic community rehabilitation unit, religious based rehabilitation unit, and medical model rehabilitation unit are the commonest found forms. Of these, the commonest form of rehabilitation unit in the UK is twelve step.

All rehabilitation units tend to share a number of key features. Residents must be drug and alcohol free (apart from tobacco); the rehabilitation unit provides a structured programme of psychological, educational and social therapy, which aims at preparing the alcoholic or addict to manage better an alcohol free life back in society; rehabilitation unit programme lengths vary between 1 and 9 months. A rehabilitation unit will often provide detox in-house when this is necessary, in advance of commencement of the rehabilitation programme.

Rehabilitation unit versus community (home) treatment

Admission to a rehabilitation unit for a period of residential treatment, appears to present a higher probability of successful outcome than does community based treatment. A 1996 follow-up study, conducted as part of the National Treatment Outcome Research Study (NTORS) indicated the following (Gossop M et al, 1999): When compared to community services, a residential rehabilitation unit is likely to achieve comparable outcomes, but treat clients with more severe patterns of addiction, thus indicating greater effectiveness of residential rehabilitation units as compared to community rehabilitation.

Duration of rehabilitation unit stay

Compared to early leavers from a rehabilitation unit those retained at least 28 days in short rehabilitation unit programmes, and 90 days in longer rehabilitation unit programmes are probably four times less likely to relapse than others, as indicated by some research studies. The issue of retention in a rehabilitation unit is central to effectiveness, and can be seen as a function of how the rehabilitation unit relates to its clients, rather than the reverse. A rehabilitation unit which actively engage with clients, provide supportive environments and well structured programmes, which are clear about their policies and their therapies, and which tailor their activities to individual needs produce better outcomes.

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