[Effectiveness of intervention services provided by social workers in methadone maintenance treatment clinics].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effectiveness of psychosocial services provided by social workers in reducing dropout rate and increasing treatment dosage in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) users.


METHODS
From May in 2009 to April in 2010, 300 MMT users were recruited from three MMT clinics in Guangzhou, and were randomly allocated into the intervention group and the control groups. The control group (152 cases) received standard MMT services while the intervention group (148 cases) received additional services provided by social workers. Methadone dosage, dropout rate, perceptions toward MMT etc. were compared between the two groups.


RESULTS
The 1-month dropout rate of the control and intervention groups were 19.7% (30/152) and 6.8% (10/148) (P < 0.05) respectively; the 6-month dropout rate of the control and intervention groups were 75.5% (115/152) and 50.7% (75/148) (P < 0.05) respectively. The intervention group had higher average treatment dosage than the control group ((56.0 ± 21.2) vs (64.4 ± 23.1) ml/d, (58.0 ± 24.0) vs (66.1 ± 26.6) ml/d, P < 0.05). At 1-month and 6-month, the intervention group had higher scores of MMT-related perception ((1.26 ± 0.68) vs (1.84 ± 0.95), (1.55 ± 0.83) vs (2.44 ± 1.23), P < 0.05), self-efficacy of maintenance ((3.68 ± 1.33) vs (4.20 ± 1.05), (3.80 ± 1.38) vs (4.43 ± 0.79), P < 0.05) and satisfaction toward MMT((4.08 ± 0.54) vs (4.15 ± 0.60), (4.01 ± 0.67) vs (4.31 ± 0.64), P < 0.05) as compared to the control group. The reverse was true for the score of negative experiences ((1.05 ± 0.86) vs (0.96 ± 0.92), (1.46 ± 0.87) vs (1.11 ± 1.07), P < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The psychosocial interventions provided by social workers were effective in reducing dropout rate, increasing treatment dosage and improving cognitions of MMT users.
Department of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China.
Jing
J
Gu
Yu-teng
YT
Zhao
Ying
Y
Zhong
Chu-jun
CJ
Xu
Wen-liang
WL
Pan
Li-rui
LR
Fan
Hui-fang
HF
Xu
Ming
M
Wang
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006556:Heroin Dependence / Q000188:drug therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008691:Methadone / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D058850:Opiate Substitution Treatment; D010349:Patient Compliance; D012947:Social Work; D016320:Substance Abuse Treatment Centers; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D008691:Methadone