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Community reinforcement and family training (CRAFT) was developed to help and support concerned significant others (CSO) of people with, for example, alcohol use disorder. The aim of this study was to investigate therapists' experiences of working with CRAFT and their experiences of the CSOs receiving CRAFT. The study has a qualitative design and is based on three focus group interviews with 17 therapists. Interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. The analysis revealed six themes and four subthemes: Concerned significant others—A special group; Help prior to CRAFT—Offering information and a shoulder; CRAFT as a new and specific method (The toolbox of CRAFT, Formats for delivering CRAFT, Introducing a diary as homework and Implementing self‐help material—Alone or in combination with sessions); Moving from a lack of structure to structure; Change in CSOs from the therapists' point of view; and Change in the therapist's role (Dilemmas—Personalising the intervention). The therapists were generally satisfied with the method and found it easy to adapt to. Moreover, working using a manual was more structured than they were used to and increased feelings of working professionally with the CSOs. Specifically, most therapists found the self‐help book useful and indispensable in their work with CRAFT, but also agreed that it could not be used as a stand‐alone intervention for most CSOs. The therapists' experiences are relevant for implementation of manualised, structured approaches and group‐based interventions more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In the last 20 years, there has been growing evidence that heavy drinking causes serious harm not only to the person who drinks but also to the person's relations and concerned significant others (CSOs). A relationship with a heavy drinker is often full of conflicts, and CSOs are frequently exposed to aggression, psychological, and sometimes physical violence from the heavy drinker. Despite their struggles, CSOs often feel it is difficult to seek professional help for these problems. The aim of this study was to investigate what problems CSOs of people with alcohol problems experience prior to seeking professional help to handle these issues. Moreover, to investigate what led to seeking professional help at all. Methods: This is a qualitative study with 12 female help-seeking CSOs of persons with alcohol problems. The participants were recruited from a randomised controlled trial (RCT) on Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT). Semi-structured interviews were conducted, audio-recorded, and transcribed. The analysis was based on interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results: Three overall themes and one sub-theme emerged from the analysis: (1) The CSO's feelings and experiences of the situation prior to help-seeking, (2) The relationship with the drinker, (3) Reasons for help-seeking and its trajectory; and the sub-theme, What the CSOs hoped to gain from help-seeking. Conclusion: The present study showed that female CSOs of people with alcohol problems had suffered for a long time before seeking professional help. They felt their daily lives were unpredictable and stressful. They were often exposed to verbal and mental abuse and their relationships with the drinking relative were often characterised by frequent rowing. The CSOs had tried to cope for a long time using a number of different strategies; seeking help seemed to be the last option considered. Despite all the struggles and pain, the CSOs also felt a lot of love for their drinking relative and hoped for the return of their once sober relative. Our findings can be viewed as a support to the stress-strain-coping-support (SSCS) model proposed by Orford and colleagues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]