Co-Curricular Drug Abuse Treatment in a University: Implementation and Evaluation

Co-Curricular Drug Abuse Treatment in a University: Implementation and Evaluation

Background: Babcock University, Nigeria, screened the students at the point of academic registration and implemented a cocurricular treatment programme for those with positive urine drug test. The aim of this study was to evaluate the immediate outcomes of the programme. Methods: The study was approved by the university’s research ethics committee. The participants were the students who screened positive to urine drug test and were hitherto suspended from school to receive treatment but were offered the option of continuing their studies while receiving treatment in the co-curricular treatment programme. Thirty of the students took the offer and participated in this study. They had a 12-week outpatient drug abuse treatment based on the Living in Balance core curriculum. The main outcome measures were urine drug test and Addiction Severity Index. The client’s satisfaction and treatment perception were also assessed. Results: The 30 clients comprised of 25 (83%) males. Mean age was 21.3 (sd=2.88). The most common primary drug of abuse was cannabis (66.7%). The rate of retention in the programme was 86.7%: The rate of positive urine drug test reduced from 100% pretreatment to 3.8% post treatment. There was 36% - 71% decrease in the domain specific Addiction severity index. There was also significant difference between the pre and post treatment global addiction severity index (z= -0.2845, p=0.004). More than 95% of the clients reported that treatment programme was good or excellent and would refer a friend in need of similar help to the programme. The mean Treatment Perception score by the clients was 28.95 (sd=6.09, min=17, max=40) out of the maximum obtainable of 40.