Therapeutic Community Effectiveness on Self-Esteem and Relapse Rate among Drug Users

Objective: In recent years, the Therapeutic Community(TC) has become a widespread treatment alternative for drug addicts. TC have been widely studied with emphasis on thair effectiveness. The aims of the present study was to examined effectiveness of TC on self esteem and decrease of relapse. Materials & Methods: Research Statistics universe constitutes of all the substance abusers who have come to the TC centers of Tehran and Mashad. samples is chosen as stratified sampling of the cities of Tehran & Mashad. This study conducted among 165 substance abuser, examined their drug use 2 years. The study utilized a quasi-experimental design with one group, clients were tested at 3 points in time pretest (at admission time), posttest (3-6 months after treatment) and 1-year Follo-up (1-year after treatment) using the self esteem questionnaire. Results: The findings show that (a) about half (50%) the clients were clean at follow-up (b) significant linear increases on self esteem After 3 to 6 months of treatment(P<0.05). Conclusion: This study provides evidence that TC could effective approach to increases on self esteem and decrease of relapse.