Do Alcoholics Anonymous participants do better at abstinence than nonparticipants because they are more motivated? Or is it because of something inherent in the A.A. program? How researchers answered these questions in a recent study offers insight into challenges of evidence-based medicine and evidence-informed policy. That's the topic of this week's Healthcare Triage. This episode was adapted from one of Austin Frakt's Upshot columns. Links to references and further reading can be found there: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/07/upshot/alcoholics-anonymous-and-the-challenge-of-evidence-based-medicine.html John Green -- Executive Producer Stan Muller -- Director, Producer Aaron Carroll -- Writer Mark Olsen -- Graphics http://www.twitter.com/aaronecarroll http://www.twitter.com/crashcoursestan http://www.twitter.com/johngreen http://www.twitter.com/olsenvideo And the housekeeping: 1) You can support Healthcare Triage on Patreon: http://vid.io/xqXr Every little bit helps make the show better! 2) Check out our Facebook page: http://goo.gl/LnOq5z 3) We still have merchandise available at http://www.hctmerch.com