Envisioning a future: Values clarification in early recovery from opioid use disorder

High rates of relapse and overdose during early recovery from opioid use disorder (OUD) highlight the importance of providing effective treatment during this crucial phase. While early treatment often focuses on managing urges and withdrawal symptoms, eliciting personally salient motivators may help to target predictors of treatment outcomes such as motivation and self-efficacy. This experimental study examined the effect of a brief values clarification exercise on motivation and self-efficacy for abstinence in a sample of n = 93 individuals in brief residential treatment for OUD. Participants were randomly assigned to values clarification or a time management control condition exercise. Self-efficacy for abstinence as measured by a validated single-item measure was higher for participants in the values condition (M = 8.7) compared to control (M = 7.8, p = .013), while motivation for abstinence as measured by the commitment to sobriety scale was similarly high for both the values clarification (M = 28.0) and control (M = 27.8, p = .642) groups. There were no group differences in delay discounting, the theorized mediator of these relationships. Taken together, these results suggest that even a brief values clarification exercise may increase self-efficacy for abstinence when added to early residential treatment for OUD.