The role of occupational therapy in substance use.

Abstract

Substance use disorder is a current serious public health problem that negatively affects the client, the family and the community. Substance use has negative effects on the structure and function of the body, restrictions on daily personal activities and participation in life (O’Day, 2009). In addition, individuals with substance use disorder are socially isolated and exposed to stigmatisation. Therefore, it is essential to integrate them into society. Unfortunately, the rate of drug use has been steadily increasing, and intervention programmes remain inadequate. Many existing substance use programmes showed low success rates; approximately 80%–90% of individuals relapse within the first year of their recovery, and 60% were dissatisfied with the services provided and drop out of treatment (Shaffer et al., 2004; Wasmuth et al., 2015). Therefore, the risk of relapse into substance use and the difficulty quitting nature of the addiction requires a multidisciplinary approach (Cruz, 2019). In addition, substance use affects the individual negatively in many respects; in their occupational and social life, there seems to be a need for holistic approaches in addition to many medical approaches. It may be beneficial to consider occupational therapy approaches in recovery from substance use, as substance use negatively affects occupational participation (Stone, 2017). The aim of the present study was