Consejo psicológico y psicoterapia motivacional en drogodependencias: evaluación de las intervenciones del programa “Lugar de Escucha”- CEDRO

Abstract

The objective of the present research is to assess perception of and levels of satisfaction with the Lugar de Escucha program, as well as its brief interventions using counseling and motivational sessions. The study is of a pre-experimental type, with a single-group pretest-posttest measurement design. The sample was made up of 128 participants (9.4% females and 90.6% males), aged 15 to 51 (mean= 23.65; standard deviation = 7.92), users of cannabis, cocaine base paste, cocaine, inhalants and alcohol who attended the program. Data collection was carried out using Attention Forms (FdA); the University of Rhode Island Change Assessment Scale (URICA); the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire (CST); and the Cases Follow-up Survey (ESC). In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the Lugar de Escucha Program, we assessed participants' motivational phases during the first interview and at referral, their level of satisfaction with the service received and the percentage of entrance to different treatment programs of the referred participants. The results on perception and satisfaction confirm a predominance of the program's strengths. With regard to the motivational phases, the findings show that the motivational induction interventions help to establish and maintain the patient's motivation for attitude change and for cessation of the abuse. In this sense, according to the findings, such interventions tend to be more effective when applied to patients in the Precontemplational and Contemplational phases. This suggests the need to work with more homogeneous groups, considering type of drugs, age and gender, and to use pre and post instruments. Likewise, the results suggest the need to classify patients in phases of change; such classification could be a useful tool for the improvement of treatment programs for drug users.