Quality of life improved following in-patient substance use disorder treatment

Abstract

BackgroundQuality of life (QoL) is increasingly recognized as central to the broad construct of recovery in patients with substance use disorders (SUD). However, few longitudinal studies have evaluated changes in QoL after SUD treatment and included patients with SUD that were compulsorily hospitalized. This study aimed to describe QoL among in-patients admitted either voluntarily or compulsorily to hospitalization and to examine patterns and predictors of QoL at admission and at 6 months post treatment.MethodsThis prospective study followed 202 hospitalized patients with SUD that were admitted voluntarily (N=137) or compulsorily (N=65). A generic QoL questionnaire (QoL-5) was used to assess QoL domains. Regression analysis was conducted to identify associations with QoL at baseline and to examine predictors of change in QoL at a 6-month follow-up.ResultsThe majority of patients had seriously impaired QoL. Low QoL at baseline was associated with a high psychiatric symptom burden. Fifty-eight percent of patients experienced a positive QoL change at follow-up. Although the improvement in QoL was significant, it was considered modest (a mean 0.06 improvement in QoL-5 scores at follow-up; 95% confidence interval: 0.03 - 0.09; p<0.001). Patients admitted voluntarily and compulsorily showed QoL improvements of similar magnitude. Female gender was associated with a large, clinically relevant improvement in QoL at follow-up.ConclusionsIn-patient SUD treatment improved QoL at six month follow-up. These findings showed that QoL measurements were useful for providing evidence of therapeutic benefit in the SUD field.

Relationship of hope, sense of community, and quality of life

“…Quality of life has become an increasingly recognized important outcome of addiction recovery (Muller & Clausen, ; Pasareanu, Osapal, Verdehus, Kristensen, & Clausen, ) that utilizes domains not captured by traditional severity measures such as the Addiction Severity Index (Donovan, Mattson, Cisler, Longabaugh, & Zweben, ). Assessing the QOL of people recovering from addiction contributes to our understanding of the consequences of addiction for everyday life, as well as allow for the evaluation of individual outcome and change over time (Rudolf & Watts, ).…”

Mental distress following inpatient substance use treatment, modified by substance use; comparing voluntary and compulsory admissions

“…These effects can increase life expectancy and quality of life [21]. Traditionally, the goal of SUD treatment has been to achieve total abstinence, or at least reduced substance use.…”

Beyond Substance Use Reduction: The Positive Impact of Mentorship for Addiction Problems (MAP)

“…These quality of life improvements shown in MAP may be associated with improvements in psychiatric symptoms. Impairment to quality of life has been found to be a common experience for patients with SUD upon entering treatment and has been shown to be associated with increased psychiatric symptom severity [15]. Future studies further investigating this relationship are warranted.…”

“…Peer support treatments have shown to be an effective and important resource in the treatment of substance use disorders [8,11]. These services have been beneficial in helping patients achieve a reduction and/or total abstinence from substances [12][13][14], as well as improving quality of life [15,16]. Impairment to quality of life is a common experience for patients with Substance Use Disorders (SUD) upon entering treatment and is associated with increased psychiatric symptom severity [15].…”

“…These services have been beneficial in helping patients achieve a reduction and/or total abstinence from substances [12][13][14], as well as improving quality of life [15,16]. Impairment to quality of life is a common experience for patients with Substance Use Disorders (SUD) upon entering treatment and is associated with increased psychiatric symptom severity [15]. Quality of life encompasses general life satisfaction with everyday experiences and events including for example family, social, and employment as well as the importance they hold for the individual [17].…”