Abstract

VIEIRA, Camila Barcelos; CARDOSO, Lorena Silveira  and  SIQUEIRA, Marluce Miguel de. Changes perceived by users after treatment for alcohol dependence. Revista Portuguesa de Enfermagem de Saúde Mental [online]. 2016, n.16, pp.34-40. ISSN 1647-2160.  https://doi.org/10.19131/rpesm.0155.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the changes resulting from alcoholism treatment received from a programme specialising in the care of alcoholics. METHODS: Evaluative, descriptive study with a quantitative and cross-sectional approach. The data analysis was performed using SPSS 20.0 with univariate analysis applied for the description of socioeconomic and clinical variables and Escala de Mudança Percebida [Perceived Change Scale] (EMP - patient) item scores, and bivariate analysis to test the association between the final scale score and the socioeconomic and clinical variables. RESULTS: The sample was predominantly male (81%) with an in-service treatment time greater than four years (45.2%) and an abstinence period between zero and four weeks (35.7%). Regarding the perception of changes, in general, 83.3% of the alcoholic patients declared themselves to be better than before treatment, whereas the perception of worsening was only detected in the sexuality (26.8%) and sleep (16.7%) items. No significant relationship was found between the variables analysed. CONCLUSION: The study showed that, in general, the patients perceived themselves as better after receiving treatment; moreover, the EMP is a sensitive measure to evaluate treatment outcomes because it indicates the positive and negative effects of treatment on the patients’ lives.

Keywords : Health evaluation; Mental health; Alcoholism; Treatment outcome.

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