The effectiveness of life skills training on the psychological well-being of people with drug abuse

Drug abuse is one of the most important health, social and economic problems in many countries, and the world has faced shocking statistics of its prevalence in society in the last three decades.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of life skills training on the psychological well-being of drug abusers.

The current research was semi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The statistical population includes all drug abusers in addiction treatment centers in Kermanshah during the years 2017 to 2019. From these people, 60 people were selected as available sampling and randomly placed in two experimental and control groups (30 people in each group). The research tools included Rif Psychological Well-being Questionnaire (1989) and 8-session life skills training intervention by Khalilan and Aflakifar (2016). Data were analyzed using SPSS version 28 software and multivariate covariance analysis.

The findings showed that life skills training had a significant effect on the dimensions of psychological well-being in the post-test and follow-up stages (P<0.05). Based on the results for the six dimensions of mental well-being, i.e. independence, mastery of the environment, personal growth, positive relationship with others, purposefulness in life and self-acceptance, respectively 0.24, 0.30, 0.31, 0.49, 0.67 and 0.39 in the average difference of the groups was due to the effect of the intervention.

Life skills training increases self-control and decreases positive attitude towards drug use in people. By learning life skills training, environmental mastery, independence and other psychological well-being structures can be promoted in people.