ABSTRACT
Objective
The objective of the present study was to evaluate 88 adolescent crack users referred to hospitalization and to follow them up after discharge to investigate relapse and factors associated with treatment.
Methods
Cohort (30 and 90 days after discharge) from a psychiatric hospital and a rehab clinic for treatment for chemical dependency in Porto Alegre between 2011 and 2012. Instruments: Semi-structured interview, conducted to evaluate the sociodemographic profile of the sample and describe the pattern of psychoactive substance use; Crack Use Relapse Scale/CURS; Questionnaire Tracking Users to Crack/QTUC; K-SADS-PL.
Results
In the first follow-up period (30 days after discharge), 65.9% of participants had relapsed. In the second follow-up period (90 days after discharge), 86.4% of participants had relapsed.
Conclusion
This is one of the first studies that show the extremely high prevalence of early relapse in adolescent crack users after discharge, questioning the cost/benefit of inpatient treatment for this population. Moreover, these results corroborate studies which suggested, young psychostimulants users might need tailored intensive outpatient treatment with contingency management and other behavioral strategies, in order to increase compliance and reduce drug or crime relapse, but this specific therapeutic modality is still scarce and must be developed in Brazil.
Relapse; crack users; readmission; post-treatment
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