INTERVIEW SCRIPT: ALCOHOL USE and an OLDER ADULT
Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences
Case Western Reserve University
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SOCIAL WORKER: Hello Mrs. Duffy. Thanks for taking the time to see me today. I appreciate it.
How have things been going for you?
MRS. DUFFY: Okay. I mean, it’s hard to be old and I don’t walk as well as I used to, you know. I have
this contraption here (raps her walker with her hand). It gets in my way sometime, but it can’t be helped.
This new hip doesn’t do me much good yet. It that why you’re here?
SOCIAL WORKER: Yes, that’s part of it. The agency asked me to stop by and see how your recovery
was going. Have you had much pain in your hip?
MRS. DUFFY: Well, I do and I don’t. I don’t have too much pain when I am just sitting here talking to
you, but it is really something after that rehab they make me do. All that bending and stretching. When
that girl leaves I have a terrible pain. And at night, I have some problems at night sleeping. Sometimes I
can fall asleep but I can’t really stay asleep. Other times I can’t even feel tired. It’s maddening!
SOCIAL WORKER: That must be frustrating for you. What do you do to help with the pain?
MRS. DUFFY: Not much. They give me some medicine to take the edge off, but it doesn’t always do
the trick. I take one when I have some pain, but I don’t like to use those pills. They make me too sleepy
in the middle of the day. If I lie around here snoozing then I don’t get anything done at all. The other
problem – and it is a problem- is that if I fall asleep during the day I don’t sleep at night. And I am a bear
if I don’t get enough sleep. But if I don’t take the pill I have a lot of pain at night. Damned if you do,
damned if you don’t. That’s what I say.
SOCIAL WORKER: What else do you do to deal with pain?
MRS. DUFFY: I try to tough it out. I have some neighbors who come to visit and take my mind off of it
for a while.
SOCIAL WORKER: Anything else?
MRS. DUFFY: No, can’t say that I do.
The development of this interview script was made possible through a Gero Innovations Grant from the
CSWE Gero-Ed Master’s Advanced Curriculum (MAC) Project and the John A. Hartford Foundation.
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SOCIAL WORKER: What other things are bothering you about your recovery?
MRS. DUFFY: Well, I don’t know. I have been feeling woozy and unsteady on my feet now and again.
SOCIAL WORKER: Yes, your record shows that you fell one night last week. Were you hurt?
MRS. DUFFY: No, embarrassed more likely. I was sitting here watching TV – my neighbor lady had
been here to visit, but she went home. I was just watching TV and I felt tired so I decided to go to bed. I
got up and was just so woozy…room spun around like crazy. I lost my balance and that was that. I was
able to reach the phone and call my neighbor and she came by right away. I just don’t know what went
wrong. I got up the next day right as rain, though.
SOCIAL WORKER: Was there anything different about that night?
MRS. DUFFY: No, I can’t say that there was.
SOCIAL WORKER: Do you drink, Mrs. Duffy?
MRS. DUFFY: Heavens no! I’m not a drinker, my dear! Why would you ever say such a thing to me?
SOCIAL WORKER: I don’t mean to say that you have problems with alcohol. That’s not what I mean.
MRS. DUFFY: You know my late husband was a drinker. He enjoyed his alcohol, so I know what a
drinker is.
SOCIAL WORKER: Yes, I understand. I don’t mean to say you are a drinker in that sense. But do you
ever use alcohol? Have you ever had a drink that had alcohol in it? A beer or a glass of wine or a mixed
drink?
MRS. DUFFY: Ever? You mean in my life?
SOCIAL WORKER: Yes, as a younger person, how did you use alcohol?
MRS. DUFFY: I would say I might have a glass or two at a wedding, or a first communion, or on the
New Year. At celebrations like that. I’d go out with my husband and I might have a pint. But since he
died I don’t go out to the pub.
SOCIAL WORKER: How has your use of alcohol changed since your husband died? Do you ever have a
drink with alcohol in it?
MRS. DUFFY: Maybe once and again. I may use it as a tonic to help me sleep once and again. But I
don’t want you to get the idea that I am a drinker or anything like that.
SOCIAL WORKER: Sleep and alcohol. That’s an interesting connection. But, let’s set that topic aside
for a minute and talk about your appetite. How has your appetite been lately?
The development of this interview script was made possible through a Gero Innovations Grant from the
CSWE Gero-Ed Master’s Advanced Curriculum (MAC) Project and the John A. Hartford Foundation.
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MRS. DUFFY: I am not so interested in eating. I don’t cook like I used to. It isn’t very interesting to
cook for one, you know. And I have some trouble getting out, so I don’t shop like I used to. Maybe I’ll
have some cereal or cookies and a tea. Maybe some fruit if I have it, but meals don’t happen like they
used to.
SOCIAL WORKER: On the night you fell, do you remember what you had to eat?
MRS. DUFFY: That was a while ago, I can’t really recall….maybe some Lorna Doones. No. No. That’s
right… Mary, my neighbor lady, brought over some stew she made. We had a proper meal that night. In
fact we even had a proper toast.
SOCIAL WORKER: That sounds nice. What did you toast to?
MRS. DUFFY: To friendship, to good health and to the luck of the Irish, of course.
SOCIAL WORKER: Of course! What did you drink for your toast?
MRS. DUFFY: We had a short whiskey, you know. That’s a toast or two for you.
SOCIAL WORKER: Does Mary bring the whiskey with her?
MRS. DUFFY: No, I have a bottle or two I keep here. For celebrations or for visitors.
SOCIAL WORKER: Sounds like you had a good time. I wonder if we could come back to that
connection you made a couple minutes ago. About sleep and taking a drink.
MRS. DUFFY: Okay, what are you getting at?
SOCIAL WORKER: Nothing really. I was thinking about what you told me about your trouble sleeping
and was wondering about alcohol in dealing with those problems. How about with sleeping? Do you
ever have a drink to make you feel sleepy in the evening?
MRS. DUFFY: Now that you mention it, I do. I have such trouble getting to sleep. I worry about it a lot.
Some nights I am so worried about if I will sleep or if I will be up all night…..I think, maybe a drink will
help – just to take the edge off if it. But it isn’t that I am a drinker because of it.
SOCIAL WORKER: What about your pain pills. Do you ever take a pill and then drink?
MRS. DUFFY: No, Heavens no! What do you take me for? I take the pill at about 7:00. I don’t have a
drink until 9 or 10. I know you can’t mix medicine with alcohol!
SOCIAL WORKER: When you have a drink in the evening, do you fall asleep?
MRS. DUFFY: I do …and I sleep until about 2 or 3 in the morning, and then I am up. I usually sleep
right here in this chair.
SOCIAL WORKER: Have you ever worried about your use of alcohol?
The development of this interview script was made possible through a Gero Innovations Grant from the
CSWE Gero-Ed Master’s Advanced Curriculum (MAC) Project and the John A. Hartford Foundation.
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MRS. DUFFY: Me? No. My daughter, now that’s another story.
SOCIAL WORKER: Tell me a little of that story.
MRS. DUFFY: My daughter is a real worry wart. She says, Mom, you need to cut alcohol. You can’t
drink at all. You will fall…a real nag, that one. She is on me about keeping those bottles of whiskey in
the house. You would think she don’t trust me. I tell, “I am not your father.”
SOCIAL WORKER: How long has she been worried about your use of alcohol?
MRS. DUFFY: I’d say about the past year or so. She is sensitive because of the problems her Dad had
with his whiskey. But I tell, I’m not like that. I need a little drink to take the edge off – to help me sleepto let me relax under all this pain and loneliness.
MRS. DUFFY: Do you feel lonely often?
MRS. DUFFY: I might say no now, but at night. Yes, I do feel lonely and vulnerable here with this
walker and all. It isn’t the life I am used to having. But it can’t be helped, I guess.
SOCIAL WORKER: Can I ask you a couple more questions about alcohol?
MRS. DUFFY: Are you worried I am a drunk, too? You and my daughter…..
SOCIAL WORKER: No, not at all. I just would like to get an idea of your life and your use of alcohol.
Would you answer a couple of questions about it?
MRS. DUFFY: I suppose. Will you take away my bottles of whiskey?
SOCIAL WORKER: That’s not my job. But I will help you try to understand if alcohol is causing
problems for you. Would you be willing to look into that subject? All we have to do is talk about it.
MRS. DUFFY: Well I guess so. What do you want to know?
SOCIAL WORKER: I have a list of questions I ask all of my clients. You just need to answer “yes” or
“no” to each of them. We can stop after each one and talk about it, if you like. Shall we begin?
MRS. DUFFY: Okay, ask me one.
Screening Tool 1: CAGE questions are asked in this section.
Screening Tool 2: Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test- Geriatric Version (long) is used in this section.
The development of this interview script was made possible through a Gero Innovations Grant from the
CSWE Gero-Ed Master’s Advanced Curriculum (MAC) Project and the John A. Hartford Foundation.
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