Psychological Empowerment, Treatment Motivation and Substance Craving among Addict Patients

Background: Psychological empowerment and treatment motivation play a crucial role in the recovery process of patients with substance use disorders, and influence on craving level which is closely interconnected with continued substance use and relapse rate after stopping it. Aim of the study: was to assess psychological empowerment, treatment motivation and substance craving among addict patients. Design: A descriptive correlational research design was used to carry out this study. Setting: The study was conducted in addiction inpatient departments at El-Azazy hospital for mental health and addiction management in Al-sharkia Governorate, Egypt. Subjects: A purposive sample of 129 patients with substance use disorders. Tools for data collection: Four tools were utilized for data collection namely; structured interview, psychological empowerment scale, treatment motivation questionnaire and substance craving questionnaire. Results: The study results revealed that the majority of the studied patients had high levels of psychological empowerment, and less than one fifth had a moderate level, while 86% of them had high level of treatment motivation, and slightly more than half of them had high level of substance craving. The total mean score of psychological empowerment was 4.38±.92 and the total mean score of treatment motivation was 62.29±10.46, while the total mean score of substance craving was 99.67±20.72. Conclusion: There was highly statistically significant positive correlations between psychological empowerment and treatment motivation, as well as between psychological empowerment and substance craving. However, there was no statistically significant correlation between treatment motivation and substance craving. Recommendations: Conducting motivational interviewing program for patients with substance use disorder to enhance their treatment motivation, psychological empowerment and decline level of substance craving.