Psychosocial treatment for incarcerated methamphetamine users: the Philippines experience

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to evaluate a psychosocial treatment program for prisoners incarcerated because of methamphetamine use. It compared the outcomes of prisoners who received the program while incarcerated, those who were released and received the treatment as part of community-based drug recovery program and a waitlist-control group (WC) with no treatment.<br>Design/methodology/approachA quasi-experimental design was use with pre- and post-test surveys administered to three groups: a WC group, a pre-release treatment-while-incarcerated (TWI) group, and a post-release outpatient treatment group (OP). Surveys measured recovery skills, life skills and substance use disorder (SUD) symptoms were administered before and after the intervention.<br>FindingsResults revealed that at baseline OP and TWI had significant higher recovery skills compared to WC group. However, in terms of life skills, there was no significant difference observed among the WC, OP and TWI group at base