The Role of AA Sponsors: A Pilot StudyAlcohol and Alcoholism Advance Access published online on March 18, 2009
The aim of this study was to explore the roles of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) sponsors and to describe the characteristics of a sample of sponsors.
Sample characteristics were as follows: the median length of AA attendance was 9.5 years (range 5–28); the median length of sobriety was 11 years (range 4.5–28); the median number of sponsees per sponsor was 1 but there was a wide range (0–17, interquartile range 3.75); and the sponsors were highly affiliated to AA (median AAAS score 8.75, range 5.5–8.75, maximum possible score 9). Past alcohol dependence scores were surprisingly low: 5 (18%) sponsors had mild, 14 (50%) moderate and 9 (32%) severe dependence according to the SADQ-C (median 26.5, range 11–56).
Sponsorship roles were as follows: 16 roles were identified through the initial content analysis. These were distilled into three super-ordinate roles through a thematic analysis: (1) encouraging sponsees to work the programme of AA (doing the 12 steps and engaging in AA activity); (2) support (regular contact, emotional support and practical support); and (3) carrying the message of AA (sharing sponsor's personal experience of recovery with sponsees).
The roles identified broadly corresponded with the AA literature delineating the duties of a sponsor. This non-random sample of sponsors was highly engaged in AA activity but only had a past history of moderate alcohol dependence.
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