ABSTRACT
The programme of research which will be reported in later chapters was originally conceived of in 1989 in conjunction with the Substance Abuse Programme in the Mental Health Division of the World Health Organisation (WHO), during a sabbatical leave spent by the first author at WHO, Geneva (Orford, 1990; Grant, 1992). It was based on earlier work carried out in England with the stress-coping model, studying the ways of coping used by wives of men with drinking problems (Orford et al., 1976). That work had been quantitative, based on the results of questionnaires, whereas the new programme of research was designed to combine qualitative and quantitative methods.
