Introduction
Occupational therapy (OT) interventions, including life skills training, leisure exploration, coping strategies, and development of meaningful roles and routines, have been shown to improve motivation, self-esteem, and development of support systems among individuals recovering from substance use (Ryan & Boland, 2021). However, there is little published evidence on the efficacy of group OT interventions among this population. This study assessed the effectiveness of group OT intervention sessions on increasing discharge readiness among adults recovering from substance use within an acute inpatient mental health facility. Medical records and participant self-reports identified alcohol, marijuana, nicotine, methamphetamines, cocaine, LSD, mushrooms, MDMA, PCP, benzodiazepines, ecstasy, and whippets as substances used by participants. This study assessed the effectiveness of group OT intervention sessions on increasing discharge readiness among adults recovering from substance use within an acute inpatient mental health facility.
Methods
Fifteen participants (n=15) completed consent forms, pre-assessments, and post-intervention surveys during group sessions. Because of variability in length of stay, several participants participated in more than one group. Therefore, several participants completed multiple post-intervention surveys.
The first portion of this assessment included 15 Likert scale questions from the Canadian Personal Recovery Outcome Measure [C-PROM] (Barbic et al., 2024). The second portion included Likert scale items and open-ended questions regarding readiness to change, support systems, preparedness, and trigger management created by the investigators. An anonymous survey was also administered during each session to measure perceived helpfulness of the intervention, assess change in stress levels, and report demographic information.
Results
A paired samples t-test demonstrated statistically significant improvement in readiness to change (p= 0.03) when comparing pre-test scores (M=3.8, SD=0.86) to post-test scores (M=4.47, SD=0.74). A moderate positive correlation was observed between change in participants’ readiness to change and the number of sessions attended (r= 0.31). A total of 91.9% of the completed post-session surveys indicated that participants agreed or strongly agreed that intervention sessions helped improve discharge readiness. On average, there was an increase in C-PROM question scores by 6.6 points when comparing pre-test scores (M=45.67, SD=11.06) with post-test scores (M=52.27, SD=9.35), with participants demonstrating statistically significant improvement in knowing who they want to become (p=0.01) and having a sense of control over their lives (p=0.02).
Themes identified based on qualitative feedback included the importance of developing a safe space and preferences for a closed-group format and varying group intervention topics. Additionally, several participants reported how completing group OT sessions improved their self-awareness and ability to be honest and accepting of their substance use.
Conclusions
The findings of this study demonstrate the benefits of incorporating group OT intervention programs for substance use recovery into mental health facilities. The program provided participants with additional support which they found helpful in preparing for discharge. Future studies could disaggregate the effectiveness of occupational therapy interventions by specific substance use populations. Future studies may also consider longitudinal studies to evaluate long-term effects of interventions and to monitor relapse among participants.