Amal I Khalil*, Eman A Shoker and Safaa E Shatlah
Background: Losing control over drug use and using excessive amounts of drugs without thinking about the repercussions is known as substance misuse. The ability to articulate thoughts and feelings in a certain way can be enhanced via the use of developed and created assertiveness skills training programs, which will significantly improve drug users' capacity to say no and make the right choices.
Aim: Investigating the effectiveness of assertiveness skills training programs in developing sober behavior among drug abusers.
Methods: One group underwent a pre-and post-test under a quasi-experimental design. A purposeful sample of 90 male patients with substance use problems participated in the study at the psychiatric and addiction treatment hospital in Meet-Khalaf, which is associated with the Ministry of Health in the Menoufia Governorate, Egypt. Three valid and reliable instruments were used to achieve the objectives of the current study, including demographic and personal data, assertion behavior, Zagers’s addiction potential scale and relationship inventory.
Results: There was a highly statistically significant improvement in the level of assertiveness skills in drug use post-intervention than before at p ≤ 0.001, and there was a highly statistically significant improvement in all dimensions of assertion in drug use. Also, there was a highly statistically significant reduction in the potential for addiction among the participants post-intervention compared to preintervention at P ≤ 0.01.
Conclusion and recommendations: The assertiveness training in this study positively affected the reduction of drug use propensity, leading to meaningful improvement in the level of assertiveness skills of the studied participants post-intervention. Therefore, it is recommended that assertivenessskills training programs must be disseminated to all psychiatric hospitals and addiction treatment centers. Assertiveness training for nurses should be continuous, on a regular basis in order to empower them with the skills necessary to detect, prevent, and treat drug abuse as early as possible. The communities that make an effort to come together in the fight against drugs are sure to make an impact on the prevention of drug abuse. There are many places to establish these prevention programs, including schools, churches and community based clubs.
Published Date: 2023-02-09; Received Date: 2022-09-21
