The development of the first facilities offering treatment programmes for alcohol-dependent patients in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia: analysis of the historical and institutional framework and context of the origin, development and dissolution of such programmes until 1945 - part one
Abstract
Background: The tradition of specialised institutional alcohol treatment in what is now the Czech Republic dates back over a hundred years. The first modern institution aimed at treating alcohol dependency began to operate on 7 September 1948.
While formally constituting an organisational unit of the Psychiatric Clinic, the "U Apolináře" facility, headed by Dr. Jaroslav Skála, was an independent workplace which gave rise to a distinct treatment approach.
Becoming known as the "Apolinar" treatment model, this approach was adopted by all the residential alcohol treatment facilities which came into existence or operated in Czechoslovakia from 1948 to 1989. Before the establishment of this department, three similar treatment facilities existed on the historical territory of Czechoslovakia - Velké Kunčice (1911 to 1915), Tuchlov (1923 to 1938), and Istebn é nad Oravou (1937 to 1939/1949).
Aim: The aim of the dissertation thesis was to describe the analysis of the conditions which had an influence on the origin, development, operation, and dissolution of the three oldest specialised alcohol treatment institutions on the historical territory of what is now the Czech Republic and Slovakia from 1900 to 1945. Methods: The research involved qualitative content analysis of historical materials, mainly written and pictorial sources, pertaining to the treatment institutions under study in terms of time and subject matter.
Over 2000 pages of text were analysed. The data was processed by using open coding as part of the grounded theory method.
Finally, the data was matched with records retrieved from archival sources and the literature. The outcomes were projected onto a timeline.
Results: Between 1911 and 1937 three treatment institutions specialised in treating alcohol dependency were established on the territory of what is now the Czech Republic and Slovakia. They were the Velké Kunčice, Tuchlov, and Istebné nad Oravou facilities.
The first two closed down in 1915 and 1938 respectively because of war situations, with the dissolution of the latter being the direct consequence of the annexation of the Sudetenland by Nazi Germany. The facility in Istebné curtailed its operation dramatically following the proclamation of the independent Slovak State in 1939.
Its activities in the years that followed were rather unspecific and were wound up in 1949, when the institution was closed down and converted into a children's home. Conclusion: The analysis of the conditions which facilitated the establishment, development, and dissolution of three specialised alcohol treatment institutions on the historical territory of what is now the Czech Republic and Slovakia helped in identifying, studying, describing, and understanding the anti-alcohol activities which have developed systematically in this area since the mid-19th century.
A major milestone in these initiatives was the establishment of provincial anti-alcohol associations in the early 20th century, which was also the elementary step towards the opening of the first treatment institution in Velké Kunčice. The development of institutional alcohol treatment in what is now the Czech Republic and Slovakia was always significantly hampered by the world wars.
Dr. Jaroslav Skála's involvement in the Czechoslovak temperance movement immediately after World War II, in 1945, made it possible to build systematically on the pre-war activities and maintain the necessary continuity of the field in terms of expertise and human resources.