The impact of the "Under the Limit" drink driving rehabilitation program on the lifestyle and behaviour of offenders

Abstract

This report examines lifestyle and behaviour change among a group of drink driving offenders who undertook the “Under the Limit‿ (UTL) drink driving rehabilitation program during 1997. The report complements other reports which examine community change and recidivism as part of the evaluation of the UTL program. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 125 drink driving offenders at the time of their court appearance and again 9 months later. The sample consisted of 62 offenders who undertook the UTL program and 63 offenders who acted as a control group. The interview schedule included measures identified in the literature as potentially contributing to recidivism – socio-demography, mental health status, social support and self-esteem, questions pertaining to knowledge, attitudes and drink driving behaviours, and measures of alcohol problems. Few differences were found between the UTL and Control groups at the time of their first interview. However, offenders in the UTL group were found to have significantly more prior drink driving convictions, more accurate knowledge of alcohol-related issues and more willingness to change their alcohol problems than offenders in the control group. Over time, the UTL program did appear to impact on offenders’ intentions to change their driving behaviours to avoid a future drink driving offence, with a subsequent decrease in self-reported drink driving being seen among the UTL group relative to the Control group.