Spirituality and Continued Abstinence Among Methamphetamine Users in a 12‐Step Program in Japan: Data From a Cohort Study of Residential Substance Use Treatment

TL;DR

Higher spirituality is linked to longer abstinence from methamphetamine in a 12-step program in Japan.

Contribution

The study shows spirituality's role in methamphetamine abstinence in Japan, where cultural understanding of spirituality differs from the West.

Findings

Higher spirituality scores were significantly associated with long-term methamphetamine abstinence.

Program involvement was also significantly linked to abstinence.

The interaction between spirituality and substance use severity did not affect abstinence.

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between spirituality and long‐term methamphetamine abstinence among the participants of a 12‐step‐based program in Japan.

The participants were 120 individuals with methamphetamine use disorder who stayed in drug addiction rehabilitation centers in 2016. They were followed up with eight surveys conducted approximately every 6 months over 5 years. The survey data were analyzed using binary logistic regression, where the dependent variable was methamphetamine abstinence for 6 years. The explanatory variables were age, gender, scores on the Drug Abuse Screening Test‐20 (DAST‐20), and the Spiritual Rating Scale A (SRS‐A), changes in the frequency of group meeting attendance, group involvement, and treatment in a hospital.

Higher spirituality was significantly associated with long‐term methamphetamine abstinence (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.05, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.00–1.09). Program involvement was also significantly associated with abstinence (AOR = 2.28, 95% CI = 1.37–3.79), whereas the interaction between SRS‐A and DAST‐20 scores on abstinence was not significant (AOR = 1.00, 95% CI = 0.99–1.00).

The level of spirituality may be positively related to methamphetamine abstinence rates among Japanese participants in a 12‐step‐based program, regardless of the severity of substance use disorder. The study results indicate the importance of spirituality for continued abstinence from methamphetamine, even among those who have a different understanding of spirituality from that in Western countries.

A cohort study of residential substance use treatment revealed the relationship between spirituality and methamphetamine abstinence among Japanese. The higher spirituality was significantly related to longer methamphetamine abstinence.

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