THE EFFECTIVENESS OF APPLYING CONTINUOUS CARE MODEL ON LAPSE AND CRAVING OF PATIENTS THAT ARE TREATED WITH METHADONE MAINTENANCE THERAPY

One of the major challenges in methadone maintenance treatment that leads to
relapse in patients is lapse. Craving is also the most important factor of lapse and return to drug use after
the treatment periods. The aim of this study is to determine the effectiveness of applying continuous
care model on lapse and craving of patients that are treated with methadone maintenance therapy in Razi
Psychiatric Hospital, Urmia, Iran.
Material and Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 95 patients (N=95) who were
selected through the census sampling and randomly assigned to intervention (N=48) and control (N=47)
groups. Continuous Care Model which consisted of four stages (orientation, sensitization, control and
evaluation) was conducted on intervention group over a period of 3 months. At the end, two groups were
compared. Craving questionnaire and lapse-and-absence check list were used to collect the data. The
data were analyzed via SPSS.v22 using the dependent and independent t-test and Pearson correlation
and Chi-square tests.
Results: At the end of third month, the mean of the lapse reached in the experimental group from
2.07±0.89 to 1.57±1.1 and the mean of craving reached from 53.73±13.58 to 50.47±15.1 that showed a
significant difference compared to the control group. (P-value<0.05)
Conclusion: The findings showed that continuous care model is effective to reduce lapse and craving
of patients that were treated with methadone maintenance therapy. Therefore, it is suggested that this
model should be implemented along with a medical treatment to prevent lapse and craving of patients