Perceived social support and clinical characteristics in males with opioid use disorder on maintenance therapy

ABSTRACT

Objective

Perceived social support (PSS) is an important factor affecting the treatment outcomes in substance use disorders. The aim of this study was to determine the level of PSS among males with opioid use disorder receiving treatment.

Method

The population of this cross-sectional study consisted of 70 adult males diagnosed with opioid use disorder on maintenance therapy. Participants completed a semi-structured socio-demographic form, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI).

Results

Levels of PSS among participants were found as follows: 41.4% had low PSS, 47.1% had moderate PSS, and 11.4% had high PSS. 41.4% of the participants had a history of injection opioid use; this group reported significantly lower PSS scores than non-injection opioid users. PSS scores were found to be significantly lower in patients with depressive scores above the cut-off score of BDI. There was a negative correlation between number of relapse and PSS.

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that males with opioid use disorder in Turkey reported lower PSS and PSS was associated with depressive symptoms and frequency of relapse. Aside from routine pharmacotherapy programs, PSS should be taken into consideration for patients with opioid use disorder and patient-specific strategies should be planned.

KEYWORDS:

• Perceived social support
• opioid
• substance use
• Relapse
• depression

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.