The beginnings of the institutional treatment of alcohol dependence on Czech territory in the early 20th century in the context of public health
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The institutional treatment of alcohol dependence in the Czech Lands at the beginning of the 20th century reflected similar abstinence-oriented therapeutic interventions which were applied abroad at the same time. The approach, which aimed at establishing and developing such therapeutic facilities in this country, was motivated not only by caring for people with dependence issues but also by the effort to educate different target groups about the risks related to alcohol.
AIMS: To consider the early stages of the institutionalized institutional treatment of alcohol dependence on Czech territory in the context of the determinants of the health of addicted patients at the societal level and to compare the first activities aimed at establishing a therapeutic establishment of this type with the concept of alcohol-specific public health policies. METHODS: Qualitative analysis was used to collect and evaluate the data, which was compiled according to the time and thematic formulae in the context of the establishment of the first institutionalized treatment facilities and the initial efforts to describe the determinants of health in relation to the public health paradigm.
RESULTS: While approaches to the treatment of alcohol dependence and the teetotal movement in the Czech Lands did not explicitly exhibit the characteristics of public health interventions as described in the public health literature of the 19th and early 20th centuries, the practical approach to this issue and measures proposed to address various problems corresponded with the basic notions of what we understand today as public health interventions in the field of the prevention and treatment of alcohol dependence. CONCLUSIONS: At the beginning of the 20th century, the teetotal movement in this country promoted a pragmatic approach focused on alcohol-related preventive activities such as the reduction of the availability of alcohol and treatment programmes involving both abstinence-oriented approaches and follow-up recovery.
Thanks to the people who advocated them, these approaches can be considered alcohol-specific public health interventions as we understand them today.