Aa what does a sponsor do

This number was decided upon following discussion with qualitative researchers in the addiction field who advised that sufficient data would be gathered from this number of participants to guide the research questions for the second phase of this study. In order to facilitate participation, the sponsors were offered flexibility in completing the research questionnaire: completing it by hand and returning it by post; completing by email; or by telephone interview.

The questionnaire comprised two existing validated scales, as well as a number of questions specifically designed to elicit data pertinent to the aims of this study. Its utility in a sample of alcohol treatment seekers and untreated problem drinkers has previously been demonstrated Humphreys et al. The scale is short nine items , covers a range of AA experiences and is internally consistent across diverse demographic groups, multiple health services settings, and treated and untreated populations.

The AAAS has been widely used both as an interviewer-administered instrument and self-report questionnaire. The SADQ-C was slightly adapted for the purpose of this study to measure severity of alcohol dependence retrospectively by requesting the sponsors to answer the questions in relation to the heaviest period of their drinking career. In another section of the questionnaire, the respondents were asked about what they see as their sponsorship roles.

No specific hypothesis was tested in the study, as few data exist in the scientific literature regarding sponsorship. As data were gathered by different means i. Responses were separated into statements and coded line-by-line so that emerging themes could be identified.

All roles identified through this analysis were listed. Thereafter, overlapping themes were linked by identifying common nodes points of connection and were reported as super-ordinate roles. A triangulation method was applied to the thematic analysis: a colleague of the first author conducted an independent content analysis of the responses, and any points of disagreement were discussed.

Finally, a member validation method was used—the research report was sent to two selected sponsors and amendments were made based on their comments. Thirty-eight sponsors were approached. Two did not meet the eligibility criteria one was currently drinking and another was not regularly attending AA. Thirty-six sponsors who initially agreed to consider participation were sent the study's introduction pack. Eight sponsors failed to respond following two attempts to contact them via an invitation letter, email or telephone call.

Thus, a total of 28 sponsors completed the questionnaire or interview 21 by email, 6 by post and 1 via telephone interview. As this was primarily a qualitative study, random sampling was not used.

We were cautious when interpreting descriptive and analytical statistics, as the sponsors included may not be a representative group. The median age was 43 [interquartile range IQR 17, range 33—73]. The median length of AA attendance was 9. There was a wide range 0—17, IQR 3. The sponsors scored highly on the AAAS median 8. To put this in context, a previous study reported a mean AAAS score of 2. The median length of sobriety of the sample was 11 years IQR 8. One sponsor did not answer this question.

The median duration of heavy drinking was 12 years IQR 14, range 3— The average daily consumption of alcohol UK units by sponsors at the peak of their drinking. However, scores for affective withdrawal symptoms were higher median 9, IQR 5. Sixteen sponsorship roles were identified through the initial content analysis. These are listed in Figure 2 , ranked by frequency of response. Data saturation occurred after sponsor 25, i. Three super-ordinate roles were created by categorizing the roles identified during the initial analysis into themes by linking nodes in common.

These roles, working the programme of AA, support, and carrying the message of AA, will be discussed in turn. The most important role of a sponsor is to encourage their sponsee s to work the programme of AA, which comprises the following core activities. The most important thing is taking [sponsees] through the steps, not telling them how to do them but what the meaning behind them is. This involves reading [AA literature], discussing and understanding. The sponsors regarded encouraging their sponsees to attend meetings as one of their main roles.

However, none commented specifically on how often they thought that their sponsees should attend meetings. The mean number of meetings the sponsors themselves had attended in the previous year was SD 66, range 20— , an average of just over 2 per week.

Doing service is voluntary but it is embedded in AA culture and is considered helpful both to the recovery of the individual member and to AA as a whole. Service positions include being involved in the running of a meeting e. The second most common super-ordinate role was support giving.

The support offered by sponsors can be broken down into two broad types. The first is of an emotional nature, which is especially important in the sponsee's early days of recovery and during periods of difficult life events, such as a divorce. To offer empathy and support through difficult times, helping the person to know that they are not alone.

Secondly, practical support is provided around AA-related issues. This ties in with the previous super-ordinate role of working the programme of AA. A number of sponsors recognized that sponsees may have issues that were not directly related to AA, such as co-morbid mental health problems, and indicated that they would encourage their sponsee to seek help from other appropriate sources outside of AA, such as a doctor or a counsellor, if they had done so themselves.

I think it is important to note that a skilful sponsor will also know when to recognize that a sponsee has problems outside their own sphere of experience and encourage the sponsee to get help from another source if required. This may be another AA member or help outside of AA if required.

Another theme to emerge from the data was that AA meetings were not an appropriate environment to share problems of a particularly personal nature, for example sexual problems. A benefit of sponsorship is that such issues can be discussed in a more confidential way. The need to develop their sponsee's trust was an important role identified by the sponsors.

This connected with the lower-order theme of being non-judgmental. Finally, a number of participants recognized that the role of sponsorship changed over time as the sponsee developed a longer period of sobriety, often growing into a genuine friendship. Five sponsors identified friendship as a primary role. According to the AA literature, this involves sponsors sharing their experience of alcoholism and recovery with their sponsees, but doing so within the framework of AA principles rather than adopting a personal viewpoint.

The concept of propagating AA for the benefit of other alcoholics is embedded in the final step of the programme, step 12, i. Although not a requisite of the final step, the AA member may, in turn, become a sponsor. Carrying the message included the lower-order role of advice giving. As might be expected, a sponsor relating their own experience of recovery and doing the programme of AA will often venture into the territory of giving advice to a sponsee, or a sponsee will seek their sponsor's opinion on an issue.

The role of advice giving was the only theme for which differing, and sometimes contradictory, responses were provided by sponsors.

The various viewpoints taken by sponsors in the domain of advice giving are described in Table 1. A number of sponsors were of the view that the message of AA should be delivered gently to sponsees.

One member admitted to having been a controlling sponsor initially but now recognized that this was the wrong approach. I told everyone exactly what to do and fired them [i. Despite the use of a non-random sampling method, the sponsors were representative of AA members in general in terms of age and ethnicity.

Whether the sample is representative of AA sponsors as a whole is unknown as there are no previous studies describing the characteristics of sponsors. Caution is needed in interpreting these comparative data as the AA membership survey covers members in North America only and our sample comprised UK sponsors. The number of sponsors who had active sponsees was lower than we expected. The average number was one per sponsor but there was a wide range 0— Despite the fact that all the respondents had been a sponsor in the past, 11 had no current sponsee this was, in fact, the modal number.

It is probable though that there are fewer sponsors than sponsees. In addition, it is likely that sponsees change sponsors over time, which may account for the low number of currently active sponsors in this sample. The average severity of past alcohol dependence of the sample was less than we expected.

For example, in a study by Harris et al. There are a number of potential explanations for this discrepancy. First, we did not ask whether the sponsors had ever received treatment for alcoholism and it is unfair to compare a treatment sample, especially an inpatient detoxification one, with a community sample.

Second, it might be that individuals with more social capital the sponsors were from high socio-economic backgrounds have shorter drinking careers they seek treatment earlier than their counterparts from lower socio-economic backgrounds and are, thus, less severely alcohol dependent and have a greater likelihood of becoming sponsors if they join AA. The reason for this is unclear. It is possible that AA members have unusually strong affective responses to life events, and this may be one explanation for the need for ongoing support through meetings.

King et al. The lower-order sponsorship roles identified comprised a combination of functions that are unique to step fellowships, such as encouraging sponsees to do the steps, and others that are common to professional interventions. However, it was possible to categorize the roles into three superordinate roles—working the programme of AA, support giving, and carrying the message of AA.

These broadly matched the meta-themes described in the AA pamphlet, Questions and Answers on Sponsorship, viz. Our sponsors placed less emphasis on the role of helping sponsees achieve sobriety with only one sponsor identifying this as a specific role. The sponsors who did highlight sobriety as a role focused on maintenance e.

Only one sponsor directly mentioned Questions and Answers on Sponsorship, which is interesting as this is the main AA document dealing with the issue of sponsorship. The sponsors broadly agreed on the first two super-ordinate roles, i.

The theme of carrying the message of AA was the only one for which differing responses were given by the sponsors. However, most sponsors agreed that carrying the message of recovery should be in keeping with AA principles. The issue of fidelity of AA principles is directly connected to the role of advice giving Table 1.

The sponsors in this study can be divided into three groups based on their attitude to advice giving: those who do not give advice at all; those who advise in certain circumstances; and those who give advice freely. Sponsors who do not give advice directly use the mechanism of describing or sharing their personal experience of recovery as a way of guiding sponsees rather than telling them what to do.

This approach is most in keeping with AA principles. AA guidance may be applied in a straightforward fashion when it relates to sobriety. The message for sponsees is clear: do not drink, go to meetings and work the programme of AA.

However, a number of sponsors recognized that their sponsees often needed help in areas of their lives other than in maintaining sobriety. In these circumstances, some sponsors were prepared to advise as long as the advice was either sought by their sponsee or it was given within the principles of AA.

This seems to be a reasonable approach and not contradictory to AA guidance. A small subset of sponsors admitted to freely giving advice to sponsees. This is not in keeping with the principles of AA and is not without risk.

In addition to its protective properties, not giving direct advice potentially increases the motivation of sponsees to remain sober and engage in the programme of AA. A comparison may be made with motivational interviewing, in which the professional delivering the therapy develops discrepancy between the drinker's life intentions and their use of alcohol, rather than by directly telling them what to do. The role of AA sponsors: a pilot study.

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Subscribe Now. NOTE: These settings will only apply to the browser and device you are currently using. The Role of AA Sponsors Several previous studies suggest that participation in Alcoholics Anonymous AA is associated with less alcohol consumption, more sobriety, and improved quality of life. You might also be interested in: Debunking the Myth about AA The researchers recruited 28 AA sponsors in the United Kingdom and conducted unstructured qualitative interviews.

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