The Efficacy of Therapeutic Community on Life Skills Improvement and Reduction of Relapse in Male Addicts

Background & Aims:Therapeutic community(TC) is an approach that its primaryaim is to help people with problems of substance abuse. The aim of the present study was to examine the efficacy of TC in the improvement of life skills and reduction of relapse in male addicts. Method: This research was a quasi-experimental study by using pre-post tests and Follow-up.Research population constitutes all male substance abusers referred to the TC centers of Hamedan, Isfahan and Yazd. samples were selected by stratified sampling in TC centers of mentioned cities and included 442 substance abusers. They were examined during 2 years in three stages of pretest (admission time), posttest (3-6 months after the treatment) and Follow-up (1-year after the treatment) using life skills questionnaire and morphine test. Results:Therapeutic community significantly increased life skills (problem solving, emotion management, communication skill, assertive skill, self awareness and self care skill) of substance abusers after 3 to 6 months of treatment (P < 0.05) and was effective in reduction of relapse after 1 year" Conclusion:This study provides evidence that TC program is effective in internalizing life skills and can reduce the rate of relapse