Positive and negative elements of short and long-term interventions during the Covid-19 pandemic period

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background During crises, such as the covid-19 pandemic, addiction treatment programs have been called upon to respond to people’s treatment needs through new methods, such as distance treatment interventions. These methods proved to be sufficiently effective, but a significant reduction in seeking, initiation and retention of individuals in treatment was observed. Method This particular article presents the example of KETHEA IN ACTION, a therapeutic program in Greece.The method followed concerns the collection of data from two therapeutic settings.The data was collected through the access of the researchers to the records of the treatment programs after receiving the relevant permission. Results The results of the short and long-term interventions are presented. The results show the effectiveness of the mild outpatient intervention program as there were positive therapeutic effects and a high degree of treatment retention. Conclusion The results are discussed on the basis of the readiness and flexibility of the treatment programs to respond to different crisis conditions in the requests of the residents.