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referrals during the study period) with stimulants and other substances making up the remaining 9.3%. The base unit provides the venue for out-patient appointments and clinic room attendances for the dispensing of pharmacological treatments; total attendances have ranged from12 to 17 thousand per year over the five years during which these studies were conducted (Leeds Addiction Unit 1997) with the result that the site is suitable for recruitment due to the large number of potential recruits but difficult due to the pressure of work and busy-ness of the place. The study site is described in greater depth with detail relevant to recruitment to the main study (Study 4) in Chapter 7.
There follows a short description of the samples used in each of the preliminary studies. The principle guiding the collection of data from each sample was one of parsimony; data not required for a specific purpose in the study were not collected, hence the paucity of demographic and drug use data in the smaller scale studies. The sample used in the main study is described at length in Chapter 7.
4.1.1 Sample 1
This sample consisted of 51 patients attending the Leeds Addiction Unit at various stages of their treatment. They were 37 males whose ages ranged from 20 to 57 and 14 females whose ages ranged from 18 to 47. Of the men, 21 were alcohol dependent, 15 were opiate dependent and one was a benzodiazepine user; of the women, 3 were alcohol dependent and 11 were opiate dependent. No further drug use or demographic data were collected for this sample. This sample was used in:
Study 1 (LDQ response choices) - further investigation of the response choices in the Leeds Dependence Questionnaire.
4.1.2 Sample 2
This sample consisted of 45 individuals recruited through a variety of sources: the Leeds Addiction Unit outpatient clinics, the Leeds Addiction Unit training department, two residential treatment facilities in London, whose treatment was described as being based upon the Twelve Step approach, and Alcoholics Anonymous. Respondents were recruited on the basis of their reported abstinence from a drug (including alcohol and tobacco) to which they felt they had once been addicted. No confirmatory data of their abstinent state were collected, but main drug from which they reported abstinence was recorded. Twenty five individuals reported abstinence from heroin, these were receiving methadone substitution or withdrawal treatment, 2 people reported abstinence from opioid drugs other than heroin, 13 people reported abstinence from alcohol, 2 people reported
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