PROFILING DRINK DRIVING OFFENDERS IN CENTRAL QUEENSLAND - PRELIMINARY FINDINGS FROM THE EVALUATION OF A DRINK DRIVING REHABILITATION/TREATMENT PROGRAM

Drink driving rehabilitation/treatment programs are widely used intervention strategies in the prevention of recidivist drink driving. Although the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs was not always recognised, recent meta-analytic and evaluation studies provide systematic evidence supporting the utilisation of these measures in the control of drink driving. The data presented in this paper contributes to the existing body of knowledge examining the utility of rehabilitation programs. It presents the profiles of drink driving offenders who elected to attend the ‘Under the Limit’ rehabilitation program (Sheehan, Schonfeld, & Davey, 1995) and a control group who elected to remain in the “typical‿ management procedures. ‘Under the Limit’ is a behaviour change intervention which aims to reduce recidivism through modification of relevant lifestyle factors. Base line data collected for the evaluation of the program are examined for 148 drink driving offenders who were interviewed at the time of their court appearance. An extensive examination of the characteristics of these offenders will be presented. In addition comparisons will be drawn between the 74 offenders who elected to attend the ‘Under the Limit’ drink driving program and the remaining 74 offenders who acted as the control group. A range of variables are examined including socioeconomic indicators, knowledge of alcohol and its association with BAC, relevant attitudes, drink driving behaviours, alcohol consumption, self esteem and availability and use of social support. Inferences for the design and implementation of rehabilitation programs will be drawn.