In Person or Online? Study Reveals Greater Benefits for In-person Mutual-help Group Attendance in Alcohol Use Disorder Recovery

Emeryville, CA — People with alcohol use disorders experience significantly better recovery outcomes when attending mutual-help group meetings in person rather than online only, according to a new study released today by the Alcohol Research Group, a program of the Public Health Institute. The study, published this month in Drug and Alcohol Dependence, examined people attending 12-step groups (like AA), SMART Recovery, LifeRing Secular Recovery, and Women for Sobriety, concluding that those seeking peer support for an alcohol use disorder should attend at least some in-person meetings to achieve the maximum benefits for alcohol use and problems. 

Led by investigators from the Alcohol Research Group and Stanford University, the study analyzed data from two samples of U.S. adults attending mutual-help groups for an alcohol problem, both online and in person. All participants completed surveys at study entry and again at 6- and 12-month follow-ups. Compared to participants attending meetings in-person only, participants attending meetings online only at study entry were about half as likely to report alcohol abstinence and almost three times as likely to report alcohol problems at the 6-month follow-up. 

 “We really hoped that online attendance would prove to be effective,” said Dr. Sarah Zemore, Principal Investigator and Senior Scientist at the Alcohol Research Group. “Online meetings are convenient and widely available, so they could theoretically support many people who face barriers to in-person attendance, such as young people and rural populations. Unfortunately, attending online meetings exclusively was associated with poorer outcomes.” 

The researchers examined whether type of meeting attendance (meaning in-person only, online only, or both in-person and online) predicted alcohol use and problems at the next survey. They also examined associations between type of meeting attendance and mutual-help group involvement (measured as number of meetings attended and participation in key social roles and activities, such as volunteering). Results showed that participants attending meetings online only had worse alcohol outcomes than those attending in-person only, and that this was due to their lower levels of group involvement. Participants who attended meetings both in-person and online achieved outcomes comparable to those attending only in-person.

The study included data from 1,152 U.S. adults who took part in the 2015 and 2021 Cohorts of the Peer Alternatives for Addiction (PAL) Study. The PAL Study Cohorts recruited participants in collaboration with mutual-help group directors and recovery-related organizations, using parallel designs and surveys that allowed the data to be combined for analysis. 

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About the Alcohol Research Group 

For over sixty years, the Alcohol Research Group (ARG) has been actively engaged in critically needed alcohol- and other drug-related public health research. We study drinking and other drug use and how these and other factors such as gender, race/ethnicity, sexual identity, socioeconomic disparities, and environmental differences affect health. ARG is also home to the NIAAA-funded National Alcohol Research Center and training program. Please visit arg.org. 

ARG is a program of the Public Health Institute, an independent nonprofit organization, dedicated to promoting health, well-being and quality of life for people throughout California, across the nation and around the world. 

Originally published by Drug and Alcohol Dependence