Influence of Familial Functionality on Relapse among adult Male Psychoactive Drug And Substance users recovering in Rehabilitation Centres in Kiambu county, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of familial functionality(cohesion, adaptability, communication) on relapse among males recoveringfrompsychoactive drugs and substance abuse in rehabilitation centres in Kiambucounty. The objectives of the study included: to establish the influence of family cohesiononrelapse, to determine the role of family adaptability on relapse and to examinetheimpact of family communication on relapse among males recoveringfrompsychoactive substance abuse in rehabilitation centers in Kiambu County. The studywas based on the family systems theory by Salvador Minuchin (1985). The studyuseda correlational research design using purposive and simple randomsampling. Thetarget population was 297 relapsed male drug and substance users recoveringinrehabilitation centres in Kiambu County, Kenya. Using randomsampling, the studyyielded a sample of 121 relapsed males which was 40 % of the total population(Mugenda and Mugenda 2013). Purposive sampling was employed to get a total of 11addiction counselors one from each rehabilitation centre. The data was collectedusingself-rated questionnaire for relapse indicating how many times the recoveringpsychoactive drug and substance user had relapsed, a modified family functionalityquestionnaire (FACES IV) was used to solicit information about the familyfunctionality based on family cohesion, family adaptability and familycommunication. Further, an interview guide to solicit in-depth information fromtheaddiction counselors was used. The validity of the instruments was determinedbysupervisors and expert validators from the Department of Counseling Psychology. piloting of the instruments was done in two rehabilitation centres that were not usedfor the final study. reliability of the instruments was calculated using the split halfmethod and then subjected to Spearman Brown Correction which yieldedacorrelation index of greater than.72 which was high reliability. With the helpofStatistical Package for social sciences version 23, descriptive statistics was analysedusing means, and standard deviation. ANOVA analysis was used to test therelationship between the three variables which included cohesion, flexibilityandcommunication and their influence on relapse. Qualitative data was analysed basedonthemes and results described in a narrative. The results revealed that the relapsedsubstance users had low cohesion with their families (mean =3.190, sd=1.614, p=0.015 ≤ 0.05) which increased relapse and also had poor andhostilecommunication between family members (mean= 3.264, sd=1.44, 0.005 ≤0.05)which was a leading cause for relapse. However, there was moderate adaptabilitybetween family members and the relapsed substance abuser (mean 2.917, sd=1.446, p= 0.048 ≤ 0.05) which somewhat reduced the rate of relapse. In conclusion, familial functionality was found to have significant effect on the relapse of the malesrecovering from psychoactive drug and substance use in rehabilitation centresinKiambu County. The study recommended that families should receive familytherapies organized by directors during open/visitation days in the rehabilitationcentres to increase cohesion, adaptability and enhance better communicationamongthemselves and the recovering substance abuser. This will reduce isolationandintroduce openness resulting to faster recovery and low relapse rate.