The Effects of Using an Eclectic Group Counseling Program to Enhance the Intention for Cessation of Drug Usage Behavior of Drug Addicts Who Received Services at the Psycho-Social Clinic of Chiang Mai Provincial Court

Abstract

Abstract

The objectives of this research were (1) to compare the levels of intention for cessation of drug usage behavior of drug addicts before and after using an eclectic group counseling program; and (2) to compare the level of intention for cessation of drug usage behavior of drug addicts in the experimental group, who used the eclectic group counseling program, with the counterpart level of drug addicts in the control group who received normal group counseling.   

The research sample consisted of 12 drug addicts, aged 19 – 25 years, who received services at the Psycho-Social Clinic of Chiang Mai Provincial Court and had the risk at the moderate level to resume using the drug again.  They were obtained based on their willingness to participate in the experiment.  Then they were randomly assigned to an experimental group and a control group each of which consisting of six drug addicts.  The research instruments comprised (1) a questionnaire on the intention for cessation of drug usage behavior, with reliability coefficient of .93; (2) an eclectic group counseling program to enhance the intention for cessation of drug usage behavior; and (3) a normal group counseling program.  Statistics for data analysis were the mean, standard deviation, Wilcoxon test, and Mann-Whitney U test.

The research results showed that (1) after participating in the eclectic group counseling program, the experimental group drug addicts’ rating mean score on the intention for cessation of drug usage behavior increased significantly at the .05 level of statistical significance; and (2) the post-experiment rating mean score on the intention for cessation of drug usage behavior of the experimental group drug addicts, who participated in the eclectic group counseling program, was significantly higher than the counterpart rating mean score of the control group drug addicts, who received normal group counseling, at the .05 level of statistical significance.

Keywords: Intention for cessation of behavior, Drug usage, Eclectic group counseling