Exploring the Quality of Life and Related Factors of Women Receiving Methadone Replacement Therapy

• Main Authors: CHUANG, YEA- YUN, 莊雅雲
• Other Authors: Lu,Yu-Ying
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2017
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/568332

碩士 === 國立臺北護理健康大學 === 護理研究所 === 105 === Drug abuse and addiction are major issues facing the Taiwanese society today. Various drug-related problems are flooding the section of social news, resulting in multiple impacts on health care, education, justice, economy and family society.. At present, there is no study in Taiwan on the relationship between life stress and the quality of life as well as the corresponding coping strategies among the women who have received the treatment of methadone replacement. This study aims at investigating the life of heroin addicts who have received the treatment of methadone replacement therapy through a quantitative study. In this study, these addicted women’s life quality, their stress events, and the correlations with their coping strategies are examined with the goal to improve the nursing care provided to the women on the treatment of methadone replacement therapy. This study adopts the cross-sectional research design and takes the conception of sampling in two hospitals in the northern Taiwan and their outpatient clinics for data collection. The total number of cases is 86. The data analysis tool is SPSS 20 in Windows statistical software. The statistical methods included percentage, mean, standard deviation, ANOVA, t-test, Pearson's correlation and multiple regression analysis. The results showed that the average age of the study participants was 41.9, most of them suffered mild and moderate life stress (87.2%), and there was no significant difference in their coping strategies for problems or emotional coping strategies. Moreover, the overall physical component summary (PCS) life quality was higher than the mental component summary (MCS) level. The factors such as occupation, having children or not, drinking habits and physical health quality of life demonstrated significant correlations. In addition, the factors like having a fixed residence or not, using drugs or not, life stress, emotional response strategies and mental component summary demonstrated significant correlations. Basic demographics, medication history, life stress, and coping strategies can explain 12.1% of the PCS variance, and 17.9% of the MCS variability. Among all these factors, the factor of having children or not exhibited the most significant explanatory power on the PCS. Similarly, the factors of having a fixed residence or not and life stress exhibited the most significant power of explanation on the MCS. This study provides the following recommendations. On the part of hospitals, efforts should be made to show care for these women's employment needs. Furthermore, hospitals should work closely with drug abuse prevention centers or other governmental and civil asylums to provide these women with employment opportunities and management. Each month, a small workshop can be organized, and professionals from different fields can be invited for providing training with the goal to expand the resources network of the addicted, and enhance their stress response skills. In addition, efforts can be made to link the attendance rate of these women so that a reduction on methadone medication expense can be offered to ensure that they treatment will not be interrupted. In addition, hospitals should increase nursing manpower, regularly measure the quality of life for the addicted, and set up a referral mechanism. If necessary, psychological counselors should be introduced to provide counseling with the goal of providing a quality care team to enhance the quality of life of the methadone treatment cases of patients.