Who Are You Without Your Substance? Transforming Occupational Time Use in Recovery

Paula Jarrard,Sadie Cunningham,Kristine Price,Paxton Granda,Paige Harker,Taylor Lannan

doi:10.5539/mas.v15n6p19

Abstract

Medically underserved rural communities struggle to meet challenging needs in response to the opioid crisis. The purpose of this study was to measure any benefit of an occupational therapy (OT) intervention group with participants in an addiction recovery program. Supervised OT graduate students implemented a five-week program at a faith-based non-profit organization in a small metro community. A weekly time management occupational-based intervention group based on the Action Over Inertia (AOI) manualized protocol focuses on motivating and providing strategies to successfully reintegrate individuals into the community by using meaningful activity and positively influencing levels of occupational balance and engagement (Krupa et al., 2003). Outcome measures included self-report of time use, occupational balance, occupational engagement, and goal identification, satisfaction, and performance. The need to effectively treat individuals with SUD is a public health priority. Results demonstrated positive outcomes with self-rating of time management, self-management skills, frequency of engaging in meaningful activities, and performance and satisfaction in meeting individual goals. This research adds to the limited evidence base in the OT literature for interdisciplinary treatment of this population using a manualized occupation-based intervention.&nbsp;

Highlights

Substance use disorder (SUD) is an ever-growing issue worldwide with devastating impact on an individual’s brain and behavior
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of implementing an occupational therapy (OT) manualized group intervention, Action Over Inertia (AOI), in an underserved community setting specializing in treatment of SUD
Based on the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) of 2 points, four participants significantly improved their performance and four significantly improved their satisfaction with desired goals

Summary

Introduction

Substance use disorder (SUD) is an ever-growing issue worldwide with devastating impact on an individual’s brain and behavior. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA, 2019), 6.8% of the Indiana population was diagnosed with SUD between 2015 and 2017, a number that is just slightly below the national average of 7.5%. It presents as an inability to control the use of alcohol, a legal or illegal drug (e.g., marijuana, cocaine, hallucinogens, heroin, or inhalants), or a medication or psychotherapeutic such as prescription pain relievers, sedatives, tranquilizers, or stimulants (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 2017; SAMHSA, 2019). Chronic pain interference was associated with a 41% relative increase in the risk of developing a prescription opioid use disorder. Of 87 percent of those who screened positive for illegal drug use, misuse of prescription drugs or heavy alcohol use suffered from chronic pain (Alford et al, 2016)

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