The Relationship of Social Support and Religious Orientation with Relapse Rates in Opioid Dependent Patients under Methadone Maintenance Therapy

Dependency to opium is a chronic and relapsing disorder that imposes great costs on individuals, families and society. The aim of this study is examining the relation between social support and religious orientation with relapse rates in opioid dependent patients under methadone maintenance therapy. A descriptive –correlational design was used. The sample of the study consisted of a convenience sample of 200 male patients, were referred to substance treatment clinics of Mashhad since March 2012 to August 2012 and were treated by methadon. Sample was evaluated with Social Support Scale, Allport’s Religious Orientation questionnaire and demographic information form. Data were analyzed with Pearson correlation coefficient, enter and stepwise multiple regression. The results of this study revealed internal religious orientation (r= 0.52), family support (r=-0.48), and friends’ support (r=-0.33) were all in significant negative correlation with relapse rates (p< 0.01). It means that by increasing family support and internal religious orientation,the relapse rates were decreased. Also there was a significant positive correlation between external religious orientation and relapse rates (r=0.50, p<0.01). Findings of linear regression and hierarchical regression analysis showed that all of these variables are predicting in total 0.62 of relapse rates variance, from which the contribution of internal religious orientation, external religious orientation, and family support respectively was 0.27, 0.06 and 0.04. results showed increasing of internal religious orientation and family support is associated with decreasing in relapse rates, and increasing of external religious orientation is associated with increasing in relapse rates.