Mental health and quality of life of addicted individuals referred to Methadone Maintenance Therapy (MMT) centers, 2016

Background: The study was conducted to identify the most important steps to prevention and reduction of the prevalence of drug addiction in the community and helping addicted people and determine their mental health and quality of life. The study aimed to evaluate the mental health and quality of life of addicted individuals referred to Methadone Maintenance Therapy Centers (MMT). Materials and Methods: This study was conducted using descriptive and analytical methods in the year 2016; the study’s sample included 351 addicted people who were selected as a targeted cluster from four different parts of the city and among the 4,000 affiliated of public and private addiction treatment centers. Data collection tools used were General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28) and SF-36 Questionnaire for the Evaluation of the Quality of Life. Data were analyzed using SPSS software for assessing our test results’ significance level, which was p ≤ 0.05. Results: The average scores of the physical aspects of mental health were 17/69 ± 6/76, and the psychological dimension of mental health was 16/49 ± 9/42. Among the different dimensions of quality of life, physical function had the highest average score (5/67 ± 2/78) and social performance had the lowest average scores (2/07 ± 1/85). Increasing the length of treatment increased mental health (p = 0.003) but had negative impact on the quality of life of addicted individuals (p = 0.3). Conclusion: Mental health and quality of life of this study’s participants were at low levels, and this in turn can lead to other mental disorders and further reduction of their quality of life. Hence, our study findings show that it is important that officials need to pay special attention to this group.