Effectiveness of Group-Based Stress Management Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy on Improving Quality of Life among the Wives of Addicts Undergoing Treatment with Methadone

Introduction & Cognitive-behavioral stress management therapy refers to a family of stress management interventions that are based on cognitive-behavioral approach. The stress management increases the ability of people to reduce stress and cope with stress-eliciting situations. The present study tries to explain the effectiveness of group-based stress management cognitive-behavioral therapy in the improvement of life quality among the women whose husbands take methadone in their treatments. The present study is a semi-empirical intervention that uses a pre- and- post- test design with a control group. The statistical universe in the present study consisted of all the women whose husbands were receiving methadone treatment in Tasmim Addiction Treatment Center in Khoramabad City in 2013. Among the women who came to this center to take weekly classes for instructions useful in family interactions, 24 were selected on the basis of availability sampling and in accordance with the criteria assumed in this study, that is, the women who had the lowest scores on the scale of life quality. They were randomly assigned to the experimental group (N=12) and the control group (N=12). The instrument used in this study was the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire (WHOQOL), 1996, which was completed by subjects in two per-test and post- test phases. The project (the stress management cognitive-behavioral therapy) was implemented on the basis of the Antony et al Manual in ten two-hour sessions with a group technique and with an interval of one session per week for the participants in the experimental group, without any intervention for the control group. At the end of therapeutic sessions, the two groups were again evaluated (the post- test phase). The data of the present study were analyzed by means of the univariate covariance analysis test (ANCOVA) and the statistical software SPSS18. Results indicated that the life quality mean scores of the experimental group were significantly greater than those of the control group. In other words, the stress management cognitive-behavioral therapy improved the life quality of the women in the group under treatment. Given the results of the present study, the stress management cognitive-behavioral therapy can be used as a selective therapeutic technique for the promotion of life quality among the wives of addicts.