Effects of Computerized Cognitive Rehabilitation on the Working Memory of Opioid-dependent Patients

Abstract

Substance abuse and drug dependency is one of the biggest dangers of the today’s world. It dramatically decreases cognitive functions, and that in turn leads to more dangers to the addicted individual and the community in general. For the drug dependent individuals who want to leave the addiction behind, getting back their cognitive functions is critical, especially for the other treatment to be successful, making sure that the patient will make safe decisions and stay drug-free. There are many methods for doing this and using video games for cognitive rehabilitation is one of the newest ones. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of computerized cognitive rehabilitation on the working memory of opioid-dependent patients. The method of this research was quasi-experimental with pre and post-test plan in two experimental and control groups. The statistical population of this study comprised of opioid-dependent patients referred to an addiction treatment center in Tehran, from which 20 people (10 in the control group and 10 in the experimental group) were selected and randomly assigned to the experimental and the control group. The instrument used was sub-scales of Wechsler intelligence scale, including the substitution of numbers and symbols and the substitution of numbers and letters. After the pretest, the intervention stage was performed in which the experimental group received training through cognitive computer games, which was performed in 24 sessions. Then, in the last training session, the post-test was taken from both groups and finally, data analysis was performed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The results showed that cognitive computerized rehabilitation is effective in increasing the working memory of opioid-dependent patients. These results have important implications for cognitive rehabilitation training and therapeutic interventions to promote working memory, so that center specialists can use this method along with other therapeutic interventions to help these patients get back their cognitive functions necessary to come back to the society and life successfully.