Impact Factors And The Scale Evaluation Of Craving Among Heroin Addicts

Obsjectives: To evaluate the psychometric properties of The Obsessive CompulsiveHeroin Use Scale, to introduce a scale for craving measurement among Chineseheroin addicts, to understand the psychological status of heroin addicts, to explore th eimpact factors of craving and their impact rank, to provide evidences forpsychological intervention strategy among Chinese addicts.Methods:(1) The English version of The Obsessive Compulsive Drug Use Scale wastranslated into Chinese and named The Obsessive Compulsive Heroin Use Scale. Itwas conducted among298heroin addicts in a compulsory rehabilitation center and itsreliability and validity were evaluated.(2) The Obsessive Compulsive Heroin UseScale, The Mental Vulnerability Scale, The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, andThe Childhood Trauma Questionnaire were conducted among249heroin addicts.Statistic methods such as General Linear Regression were conducted to explore theimpact factors of craving.Results:(1) The adaption of The Obsessive Compulsive Heroin Use Scale includedthree subscales (heroin interference, frequency of craving, loss control of drugs) andshowed good reliability and validity.(2) Measurements among heroin addicts in acompulsory rehabilitation center showed that67.1%was regard as highly vulnerable.The mental resilience scores were relatively low, with the mean scores of three subscales (tenacity, strength and optimism) equaling26.84±9.13,19.52±5.87, and7.90±3.20, respectively. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire showed that emotionaland physical abuse rate were74.3%and30.9%. The emotional and physical neglectrate were84.4%and82.7%. The sex abuse rate was54.2%.(3) After the GeneralizedLinear Regression, variables that stayed in the equation and their regressioncoefficients were a) heroin interference: education level of primary school and below(5.78), education level of middle school (5.33), education level of high school (4.89),emotional neglect (-0.22), mental vulnerability (0.21), optimism (-0.30); b) frequencyof craving: snorting (-1.47), mental vulnerability (0.34); c) loss control of drugs:education level of primary school and below (1.93), age (0.14)Conclusion: The adaption of The Obsessive Compulsive Heroin Use Scale was areliable and valid measurement and suitable for Chinese heroin addicts in compulsoryrehabilitation centers. The heroin craving was relevant to many psychological factorswhich were needed to be improved to reduce craving.