Psychosocial problems among individuals with substance use disorders in drug rehabilitation centers, Nepal

Substance use is associated with numerous undesirable short and long term consequences. The individual not only suffer from physical and psychological problems but also loses the ability to interact with family, peers and society. The present study aims to identify the psychosocial problems and associated factors among individuals with substance use disorders.

The study was conducted using descriptive cross sectional research design in different drug rehabilitation centers of Nepal. Probability proportional to size sampling technique was used to select the drug rehabilitation centers and individuals diagnosed with substance use disorder but free from any substance withdrawal features, admitted in rehabilitation centers within 3 months and clients above 15 years of age were included in the study (N = 204). A standard tool Drug Use Screening Inventory-Revised was used to assess the psychosocial problems and the scores ranged from 0 to 100. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Linear regression analysis was conducted to identify the predictors of psychosocial problems.

The mean and standard deviation of overall psychosocial problems scores was 60.42 ± 19.44. Among different domains, more problems were found in substance use domain (75.00 ± 21.43) followed by school performance (64.60 ± 25.53), behavior pattern (64.53 ± 24.44), peer relationship (64.49 ± 24.91), social competence (61.30 ± 22.60), psychiatric disorder (56.83 ± 23.39), family system (48.28 ± 23.72) and work adjustment (45.90 ± 29.88) domains. Types of substance use, mode of substance use and age of initiation of substance use were the significant predictors of overall and most of the domains of psychosocial problems.

Substance use poses significant impact on individual's psychological and social wellbeing. Individuals using injecting drugs, initiating substances early in life, using substances many times in a day and using both licit and illicit substances had more psychosocial problems. Hence, treatment centers should take this into account.