Case Study Assessment
E. Mitchell
Walden University
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to inform the audience of the author’s ability to properly review case studies as related to evidence-based practice and search for published research that could guide the authors’ decision making.
Keywords: research; assessment; alcohol; Hispanic Alcohol Dependence;
Alcohol Treatment; Outcomes; Predictors; Residential Treatment; Self-Efficacy

Case Study Assessment
Francesco is a 30-year old Hispanic single male, there is no reference to living arrangements or children. He presents at a low-income primary health-care center
Francesco is quiet and polite with diffuse and moderate anxiety due to work and relational concerns. His first marriage recently ended in divorce, and his minimum wage factory job is in jeopardy due to layoffs and outsourcing. His job does not provide any health insurance, and he as a single man, therefore, does not qualify for state funded insurance coverage. He has been seen by his primary physician twice for twelve-minute appointments where the doctor learned of Francesco’s extensive history of alcohol dependence, including two inpatient rehabilitations. Francesco admits alcohol abuse but minimizes its effects.
Critical Elements
Essential factors are problems whether significant, perplexing and challenging situation, real or artificial, the solution of which requires reflective thinking. They are the elements that become a research problem ready for investigation.
Background and Rationale establish the significance of a topic to be researched and provides conceptual framework for addressing any hypothesis for the instant case study.
Patients’ Characteristics at Intake to Treatment. The IIF assessed sociodemographic characteristics such as age, gender, and employment; indices of substance use and its consequences; and psychological and social functioning. Prior SUD treatment was measured by attendance in any inpatient or outpatient SUD treatment program and any self-help activities 2 years prior to the index stay. Fifteen items were used to assess patients’ alcohol and drug use in the 3 months prior to treatment. The items were adapted from the Health and Daily Living Form (Moos et al., 1990) and the Treatment Outcome Prospective Study (Hubbard et al., 1989). Patients were asked about the frequency and amount of beer, wine, and hard liquor they consumed, and about the frequency of use of various illicit drugs. Severity of alcohol dependence was assessed by 9 items drawn from the Alcohol Dependence Scale (ADS), developed to correspond with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria for alcohol dependence (Maude-Griffin et al., 1992). Substance use problems were assessed with 15 items, including job, family, and health problems (Maude-Griffin et al., 1992). The item responses for these 2 scales ranged from “never” (0) to “often” (4); the severity scores of the ADS ranged from 0 to 36 and the Substance Use Problems Scale (SUPS) ranged from 0 to 60.
Diffuse and moderate anxiety
Low-income primary health-care center
Work and relational concerns.
Divorce
Minimum wage factory job is in jeopardy due to layoffs and outsourcing.
Job does not provide any health insurance
Single men do not qualify for state-funded insurance coverage.
History of alcohol dependence, including two inpatient rehabilitations.
Admits alcohol abuse but minimizes its effects.
An informing Research Study
Research ethics is defined as the “study or science of right and wrong of what one ought to do when confronted with conflicting values or obligations” (Stemeck, 2003. Pl 240).
I chose the intervention as informed by “Self-Efficacy as a Predictor of Outcome after Residential Treatment Programs for Alcohol Dependence: Simply Ask the Patient One Question!”
Background: Self-efficacy has been identified as one of the most consistent variables that predict the outcome of alcohol treatment. However, many previous studies in this