efficacy of a cognitive-behavioral relapse prevention model in the treatment of opioid dependence in iran: a randomized clinical trial

Background: relapse following abstinence from substance use is common. in this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of training, based on a cognitive-behavioral relapse prevention model in individuals with opiate dependence. methods: a total of 50 substance abusers were selected via simple random sampling among the clients of aftab center, tehran, iran for substance dependence treatment. the subjects were randomly divided into 2 groups: routine addiction treatment program and the developed intervention, plus the routine addiction treatment program. all the subjects completed the questionnaire on demographic variables and addiction history, inventory of drug-taking situations, and drug avoidance self-efficacy scale at baseline and after the intervention. the patients were followed-up for 3 and 6 months after the intervention. anova, chi square test, and ancova test were performed for data analysis, using spss version 19. results: in this study, the mean age of the subjects was 38 ± 11.26 years. based on the results, social pressure was the most frequent high-risk situation, followed by negative emotional and physical states. in the 3-month follow-up, 8% and 24% of the subjects from the intervention and control groups dropped out, respectively. nevertheless, no significant difference was found between the groups in terms of the dropout rate. at the end of 6 months, 84% and 48% of the subjects from the intervention and control groups showed abstinence from drug use, respectively. the findings indicated a significant difference regarding self-efficacy between the groups (p < 0.001). conclusions: design of interventions based on cognitive-behavioral models, which can improve self-efficacy, may be effective in relapse prevention.