Bio-psycho-social Intervention for Relapse Prevention among Males with Substance Dependence

Abstract

Relapse poses a fundamental barrier to the treatment of substance dependence. Preventing relapse is therefore a prerequisite for any attempt to facilitate successful and long-term behavioral changes in substance dependents. Relapse can be caused by biological, psychological and socio-cultural reasons hence this study was aimed to develop and implement a bio-psycho-social intervention program for relapse prevention. 100 male subjects having multiple substance dependence from 16 to 60 years of age were selected through purposive sampling. Subjects were assessed on ‘Advance warning of relapse questionnaire’ followed by a follow up study through telephonic interview for six months. Two null hypotheses were formulated to see the effect of intervention on relapse prevention. Between two groups research design was used for the study with 50 subjects in each group. Data was analyzed by using t and 2x2 contingency χ2 tests. For first hypothesis was significant at 0.01 level and concluded that intervention program reduced advance warning signs of relapse. For second hypothesis 74% experimental group subjects were abstinent till six months after intervention as compared to 22% of control group. It was concluded that bio-psycho-social intervention program is significantly effective in relapse prevention among males with substance dependence.

Keywords

• substance dependence
• advance warning of relapse
• relapse prevention
• bio-psycho-social intervention.