Henderson, Thomas (2024) Receiving addiction treatment: does drug choice matter? Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
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Abstract
Substance use has a prolific and wide-ranging adverse effect on people across Australia and the world at large, and the type of substances used vary greatly. To assess the effect of choice of substance on treatment outcome, analyses were performed on archival data from the non-profit treatment organisation DrugARM. The study assessed 1,282 cases of drug treatment, categorising the drugs used as alcohol, amphetamine, cannabis, and other drugs. Client demographic details were collected during initial contact, and the metrics of substance use frequency, severity of substance dependence, psychological and physical health, quality of life, self-esteem, distress, and disability were measured at pre- and post-treatment. Comparisons between pre- and post-treatment measures were performed, as well as chi-square tests on measure associations with drug groups, and ANOVA analysis of the change between tests. Measures were also evaluated for independent success of treatment. It was found that treatment rarely improved self-esteem or reduced a client’s disability rating, and that drug of choice had minimal effect on most measures, with the results indicating that the only metrics which significantly differed in treatment outcome between clients were psychological health and severity of dependence, when comparing alcohol and amphetamine users. Otherwise, drug of choice had little effect on treatment. Overall, drug choice has a limited effect on the measurement of treatment outcomes. However, the significant difference in psychological health improvement would suggest that this area could use further advancement. Future research into drug treatment would be best served by focusing on discovering more about the possible connection between drug group and psychological health and investigating the value and impact of self-esteem to drug treatment outcomes.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Current – Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Wellbeing (1 Jan 2022 -) |
| Supervisors: | Wang, Grace |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 22 Jan 2026 00:51 |
| Last Modified: | 22 Jan 2026 00:51 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Substance use, treatment, drug choice, treatment outcomes |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1701 Psychology > 170106 Health, Clinical and Counselling Psychology |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5203 Clinical and health psychology > 520304 Health psychology |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/53091 |
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