Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy to Prevent Relapse of Substance Abuse

약물남용의 재발 예방을 위한 인지행동접근법의 효과성

The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy to prevent relapse of substance abuse. A total of 8 substance abusing adult clients participated in the program. All the clients were charged with substance use at the time of implementing the program. Two master's level social workers operated the program, which was implemented in a probation office in Seoul. This study included Beliefs about substance use, abstinence self-efficacy, and coping skills as dependent variables in order to investigate the effectiveness. Cognitive-behavioral therapy emphasizes the enhancement of these cognitive and behavioral skills to prevent relapse of substance use. Research hypotheses were partially supported. That is, clients participated in the program had more negative attitude toward substance use and had more effective problem-focused coping skills. Although a research hypothesis of the enhancement of clients' self efficacy was not supported, their mean scores at the final post test were lower than scores at pretest. This study suggests that more studies be needed to in order to confirm the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy with substance abusing clients.