Chinyere Okonkwo
C. Okonkwo1, B. C. Agoha2, J. Olusegun1, I. A. Sadiku1, N. A. Okeke3. 1Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria; 2Covenant University, Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria; 3Excellence Community Education and Welfare Scheme, Enugu State, Nigeria
Introduction. Substance abuse is one of the most worrisome behaviors across the globe. Relapse after treatment has remained a major challenge in the treatment of addictive behavior. In Nigeria, studies reported high prevalence of relapse. However, little is known about the risk factors that influence relapse.
Objective. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of relapse among patients with substance use disorder (SUD) in a drug treatment facility, to find out the association between socio-demographic and clinical variables and the risk factors of relapse
Methodology.This was a cross-sectional study. The socio-demographic and clinical variables questionnaires as well as the Risk factors questionnaire were administered to the participants. The collected data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, independent t-test, chi-square and one way ANOVA.
Results. There were 68 males and 4 females in the study. The mean age of the participants was 29.7% (SD=9.41). The majority of them were inpatients (72.2%), males (94.4%), unemployed (65.3%), never married (56.9%) and had a minimum of secondary school education (70.8%). The prevalence of relapse in this study was 52.7%. Many of the participants (53.2%) were multiple substance users, and 26.4% reportedly used only cannabis. There was a significant association between socio-demographic and clinical variables and the risk factors of relapse. Participants who were younger were more likely to be influenced adversely by the risk factors.
Conclusion. Identifying the factors that contribute to relapse among persons with SUD especially the younger population, would help to decrease the rate of relapse among the study population.