Health-related quality of life in patients with substance use disorders enrolled to the residential treatment in Sri Lanka: a retrospective cross-sectional study

Abstract

Purpose: Substance use disorder (SUD) is a serious public health concern that requires continuum care with effective treatment modalities such as residential rehabilitation. Improvement in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is one of the determinants of treatment and rehabilitation effectiveness. Therefore, a retrospective cross-sectional study was carried out in seven residential rehabilitation centres in Sri Lanka to determine the HRQoL of the rehabilitees with SUD.

Method: The HRQoL of 464 individuals at their enrolment and during the rehabilitation period was assessed using EuroQol five-level five-dimensional questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L). Data were analysed using IBM SPSS version 26.

Results: The majority of the participants were Sinhala (n = 419, 90.3%) and Buddhist (n = 368, 79.3%) males (n = 461, 99.4%). Most were unmarried (n = 302, 65.1%), young adults (n = 385, 83.0%) who have pursued secondary or higher education (n = 276, 59.5%) and 87.3% were employed (n = 405). Most of the selected centres use biopsychosocial model (n = 4, 57.1%) as the rehabilitation approach while rest practice therapeutic community (n = 3, 42.9%). The average EQ-5D-5L index [range =( - 0.45)-1.00] of the rehabilitees at their enrolment was 0.52 ± 0.28 and the EQ-5D-5L Visual Analogue Scale (EQ-5D-5L VAS) score (range = 0-100%) was 47.17% ± 23.48%. The values were increased up to 0.83 ± 0.18 (EQ-5D-5L index) and 84.25% ± 16.79% (EQ-5D-5L VAS) during the rehabilitation period. Only 19.4% of the rehabilitees had a normal or upper normal HRQoL (≥ 0.75 EQ-5D-5L Index) at their enrolment and 72.2% of rehabilitees reported normal or upper normal HRQoL during the rehabilitation period.

Conclusion: A significant improvement in the HRQoL of the participants was observed during the residential treatment in comparison to the enrolment, despite the differences in the rehabilitation programs.

Keywords: EQ-5D-5L; Health-related quality of life; Rehabilitation; Substance use disorder.