Family Burden of Narcotics Abusers Experiencing Relapse and Factors Exacerbating It

¹ Lecturer in the Department of Epidemiology Faculty of Public Health Universitas Sriwijaya
² Lecturers in the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Faculty of Public Health Universitas Sriwijaya.

Abstract

Background: Narcotics addicts must undergo rehabilitation to get recovery. During the recovery process, families bear both economic and social burdens. This study aimed to find out how the burden of families with family members who experienced relapse was and what factors could exacerbate it. This study used cross-sectional study design by measuring family burden as an outcome. The samples in this study were 168 families having family members who abused narcotics and experienced relapse. Multivariate analysis with multiple linear regression showed that the factors exacerbating the family burden of narcotics abusers were the family member’s age of first use of narcotics and drinking habits (dominant factor) with R = 0.964, R Square = 0.929, Adjusted R Square = 0.928 and Durbin Watson = 0.982. Narcotics abusers who experience relapse will increase the family burden. Factors that aggravate the family burden are as follows: first time using narcotics at an early age and alcohol drinking habit. Therefore, we must prevent the use of narcotics as early as possible among the entire community and stop drinking alcohol.