Examining the impact of community-based behavioral drug treatment: A case study from the Philippines

Abstract

Researches in the fields of psychology, medicine, health, and social work, indicate varying effects of demographic characteristics on the effectiveness of community-based behavioral drug treatment (CBDT) programs. This study evaluates the overall effectiveness of Katatagan Kontra Droga sa Komunidad (KKDK, Resilience Against Drugs in the Community), an evidence-informed and culturally adapted CBDT program implemented in the Philippines to address the issue of substance use as an addictive behavior. It also determines whether the program had differential impacts across age, gender and educational attainment. Pre-treatment surveys were administered to 355 CBDT program participants. Out of this, 203 were able to complete the intervention and accomplish the post-treatment survey. Outcome measures covered in the survey include substance use dependence behaviors, coping behavior, life skills, family support, family functioning and wellbeing. Findings revealed significantly better post-test outcome measures. Overall, analyses using mixed ANOVAs indicated that changes in outcome scores did not vary according to age gender, and educational attainment. There was one significant interaction effect of educational attainment and time on well-being, with elementary and high school graduates showing larger improvements in well-being from pre to post-test compared with post-high school graduates. Implications of the findings include further evidence on the overall effectiveness of the CBDT program (i.e. KKDK) in lowering substance use behaviors and enhancing life skills, coping behaviors, family support, family functioning and wellbeing of low to mild risk drug users across gender, age and educational attainment. © 2020, Behavioral Science Research Institute.