RESEARCH ON ADDICTION
Year:2014 | Volume:8 | Issue:30|Papers Count:15

Objective: This study was aimed at investigating the effectiveness of teaching emotional intelligence in preventing students' tendency to substance abuse. Method: Research design was quasi-experimental contained a pretest-posttest alongside a witness group. Pre-university female students of Ardabil constituted the statistical population of the study; among them, 240 students by random cluster sampling. Then, 60 individuals with a high tendency to drugs were selected and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group regularly attended training classes of emotional intelligence for 3 weeksin 4 sessions. Addiction Potential Scale and Addiction Acknowledgment Scale were used for data collection purposes. Findings: The results indicated the significant effectiveness of teaching emotional intelligence. Conclusion: Emotional intelligence and its promotion can be effective in preventing people’s tendency to substance abuse.

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the effect of consciousness on inhibition of and attentional bias to stimuli associated with drugs among heroin users and their counterparts. Method: In this study, a causal-comparative research method was used. All persons dependent on opiates in Abhar city constituted the study population. The number of 120 participants containing two 60-person groups of heroin users and their counterparts (i.e. non-users) were selected through convenience sampling. The two groups had been matched for age and sex and were compared through conducting the two neurological tests of Dot Probe and Stroop tests. Findings: The results showed that there was a difference between the two groups on Dot Probe test where the normal group outperformed the other one. In Stroop test, drug stimuli are provided either consciously or unconsciously, identified; then, the stimuli in drug users are decided upon. Conclusion: Given the devastating effects of addiction on cognitive ability, cognitive problems should be addressed in treating patients.

Objective: This As a meta-analysis, this study aimed to integrate different studies and investigate the impact of individual and environmental factors on the reappearance of addiction in quitted people. Method: This study is a meta-analysis which uses Hunter and Schmidt approach. For this purpose, 28 out of 42 studies enjoying acceptable methodologies were selected, upon which the meta-analysis was conducted. A meta-analysis checklist was the research instrument. Using summary of the study results, the researcher manually calculated effect size and interpreted it based on the meta-analysis approach and Cohen’s table. Findings: Results revealed that the effect size of environmental factors on addiction relapse was 0.64 while it was obtained 0.41 for individual factors on addiction relapse. Conclusion: According to Cohen’s table, the effect sizes are evaluated as moderate and high for individual factors and environmental factors on addiction relapse, respectively.

Objective: This study is aimed at examining the mediating role of personality trait of conscientiousness in the relationship between attitudes towards addiction (which is considered to be a barrier to educational achievement) and students’ academic performance. Method: As a cross sectional study lying within the range of descriptive studies, 106 students of Guilan University of medical sciences in 2010-2011 were randomly selected as the study sample and responded to the items of subscale conscientiousness of NEO Personality Inventory and attitude measurement questionnaire toward addiction. Recent acquired total averages of students were considered as academic performance. Findings: In the first step, the academic performance regression was significant aboard tendency towards addiction. In the second step, however, with entry of conscientiousness as a mediator variable, there was observed a significant decrease in the b coefficient of attitude toward addiction and lost its significance. In other words, the mediator variable, consciousness, plays a mediating part in the relationship between tendency to addiction and educational performance. In general, these two variables could moderately explain 12% of the variance in academic performance to make the adjustment. Conclusion: Conscientious people enjoy higher achievement and lower degree often tendency toward addiction due to such factors as self-regulation, perseverance, and resistance against harmful impulses. Therefore the personality trait of conscientiousness can counteract the detrimental effect of attitude toward addiction on academic performance through performing a protective role.

Objective: It has been greatly attempted to learn more about chemical information on finger prints using new vehicular technique use for the detection of a variety of substances, including narcotic drugs and medicines, as well using nano particles bound to specific antibodies. Over the last few years, the sensitive techniques of gas chromatography and mass spectrometry have been found for the detection of residues in samples with very low values. Method: In this study, sampling from fingerprints was taken through optimized methods with chemical solvents and then by the techniques of gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) for the detection of chemicals in the fingerprints. Samples included a group of volunteers aged 30 to 40 years. Sampling was done by means of glass slides and extraction with solvents of sodium hydroxide, methanol, and chloroform solutions. Analysis and detection of debris, including nicotine, Tramadol, Methamphetamine, and Cocaine was fulfilled using derivatization and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Findings: The results showed that the use of derivatization as a sensitive method along with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry can detect very small amounts of nicotine in existing samples. Conclusion: The results of this research can be used as a way to detect drug residues in finger prints and ultimately they can be important in providing a standard method for the analysis of these residues.

Objective: This study was conducted to compare the environment of families with and without substance-dependent members to investigate the functioning of families with substance-dependent members and also provide them with appropriate treatment strategies. Method: A causative-comparative method followed by an ex post facto design was used in this study. A sample of 50-person suffering from substance-dependent disorder referring to outpatient treatment centers, located in west and east of Tehran, constituted the participants of the study. As well, another 50-person group not suffering from the disorder participated in this study as the former group’s counterpart. The participants answered the questions of environment of family scale (EFS) (Moos d Moos, 1986). Findings: The results showed that there was a significant difference between two groups in dimensions of cohesion, conflict, achievement orientation, intellectual-cultural orientation, religious orientation, organization, and control whereas therewas no significant difference between the two groups in dimension of expressiveness, independency, and recreational orientation. Conclusion: The study recommends the authorities the application of efficient interventionist treatment strategies appropriate to the characteristics of families having drug-dependent member.

Objective: This research was an attempt to predict the tendency of people having borderline personality traits to smoking, drinking alcohol, and taking psychoactive drugs based on emotional dysregulation and child abuse. Method: This study employed a correlation method which is categorized in descriptive category. A sample including 600 male and female bachelor students of Tabriz University was selected by cluster sampling. Then, high risk behaviors scale, Emotional dysregulation Scale, Child abuse scale, and borderline personality scale (STB) were distributed among this group. Findings: Stepwise multiple regression analysis suggested that emotional dysregulation and child abuse significantly predicted varying degrees of smoking, drug, and alcohol usage. Conclusion: The research findings suggest the basic role of initial biological vulnerability in terms of emotional regulation (dysregulation) and invalidating family environment (child abuse) in the prediction of catching the disorder of borderline personality traits and producing high riskbehaviorssuch as alcohol drink and drug usage.

Objective: The current study aimed at comparing preventive behavioral mechanisms behavioral tendencies, and the clash between drug users under maintenance treatmentandnon-users. Method: It was a causal-comparative study. All addicts of Esfahan city who had referred to one of the drug quitting centers constituted the study population. The selected sample consisted of 50drug users under maintenance treatment and 50non-users who were selected by convenience sampling. Gray- Wilson Personality Questionnaire was used for data collection purposes. Findings: The results showed that there was a significant difference between the two groups in terms of BAS and FFS scales while the difference between the two groups in terms of BIS scale was not reported to be significant. As well, there was a significant difference between the two groups in terms of approach, passive avoidance, fight, and silence. Conclusion: Investigating the neural/behavioral foundations within the range of substance abuse disorders indicates a difference between this group and those without the disorder, and it can further our understanding of the neural foundations of these disorders.

Objective: This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of teaching emotion regulation based on gross model in reducing impulsivity in drug dependent people. Method: This research project was some type of pilot studies that has employed pretest - posttest design with control group. For the present study, all the addicted referring to drug-quitting clinics in2011 at Marivan constituted the study population. A total of 30 drug-dependent persons was selected by simple random sampling and randomly assigned to one of the experiment and control groups. Findings: The results showed that emotion regulation training can be effective in reducing symptoms of impulsivity in drug-dependent individuals. Conclusion: Given that drug-dependent individuals are naturally more susceptible to negative emotions, they will probably act impulsively without having any plans in such situations. Therefore, emotion regulation training to such people can enhance their self-restraining power in such situations.

Objective: This study was carried out to determine the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy in improving coping strategies and symptoms of drug addiction patients. Method: In a quasi-experimental study, the number of 90drug-dependent patients referring to clinics to stop taking drugs existing in the city of Urmia were divided into two experimental (n=45) groups and control (n=45) using random sampling. The experimental group received 12 sessions of cognitive-behavioral treatment in Carroll style while the control group received only methadone and the physical pills. All the participants completed coping strategies questionnaire at the beginning, during (after three months), and three months after treatment (follow-up). As well, they were assessed for the rate of improvement in symptoms of addiction and process of addiction treatment using by Madzly’s addiction profile questionnaire. Findings: The results proved the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy and its survival. Conclusion: Cognitive behavioral therapy is very influential in the boost of coping strategies and the improvement of mental and physical health in drug-dependent patients.