International Journal of Collaborative Research on Internal Medicine & Public Health

A Qualitative Study on Drug Abuse Relapse in Malaysia: Contributory Factors and Treatment Effectiveness

Introduction/Background: Drug abuse is a complex issue and has been a serious public health problem in Malaysia. The high relapse rate which has been consistently over 50% for the past decades has been worrying also. Research into the contributory factors of drug abuse represents a continuing effort to curb this growing social threat and past research has shown that family factors and peer influence were two of the primary contributory factors of drug abuse.

Aim & Objectives: The present study aims to examine the contributory factors of drug relapse among drug addicts and the treatment effectiveness of a centre in Malaysia. Methods/Study Design: An in-depth qualitative interview which was flexible, nondirective, and semi-structured was employed. There were 17 drug addicts and 3 administrative staffs being selected from the Malaysian Private Rehabilitation Centre for interview.

Results/Findings: Result indicated that peer influence and curiosity were the top two significant factors contributing to drugs abuse. Treatment provided in the centre was highly effective as majority of the participants have a very low intention to relapse after recovered.

Discussion/Conclusion: The current research provides us a general idea of how the drug abusers and rehabilitation centre are like in Malaysia, providing clue to related parties on how we can further work on reducing if not eliminating drug abuse in our country.

Author(s): Tam Cai Lian , Foo Yie Chu

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