Examining Quality of Life, Mental Health, and Craving in Opioid Users, Methadone Patients, and NA Members.

INTRODUCTION

Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a significant public health concern, and different treatment approaches, such as maintenance therapy or group therapy, have been proposed. The effectiveness of these therapies in improving the psychological and mental state of the patients has drawn the focus of research and evaluation. This study aimed to compare the dimensions of quality of life (QoL), depression, anxiety, stress, and substance control-related factors in OUD subjects and those who have entered methadone maintenance treatment or narcotics anonymous (NA) group therapy compared to control subjects who had never used opioids.

METHODS

The participants (n=80) in this cross-sectional study were all male subjects and divided into 4 groups (n=20 in each group), OUD subjects, NA members with a history of OUD, methadone-maintenance therapy (MMT) individuals previously involved with OUD and a healthy control group. The first three groups were recruited from substance use disorder treatment centers and community groups in Tehran City, Iran. All participants completed the validated Farsi version of questionnaires, the World Health Organization QoL-BREF (WHOQoL-BREF), the depression anxiety stress scale (DASS-21), and the desire for drug questionnaire (DDQ). Multivariate analysis of variance followed by the least significant difference was used to assess the differences between groups.

RESULTS

Data showed that for the DASS-21 scale, the differences between OUD subjects and the other three groups for all scale variables were statistically significant, except for the difference between OUD and MMT subjects for the stress variable, which was not significant. For the DDQ and WHOQoL-BREF scales, the differences between the OUD group and NA or control subjects for all variables of the scales were significant. However, no significant differences were observed between OUD and MMT groups regarding these variables.

CONCLUSION

The results of our study suggest that entering NA programs may be a more effective treatment option than consuming methadone for individuals with OUD in terms of improvement in the mental and psychological state of the patient, which may need to be further evaluated in the future.