The purpose of the research was to examine the impacts of mental health disorders on drug abusers who reverted to re-abuse after being discharged from rehabilitation centers. The study evaluated the influence of untreated mental conditions, such as depression and anxiety, on the patient who begins re-abusing heroin or cocaine after leaving in-patient medical intervention centers. The author used a prospective multicenter study to fulfill their study's purpose; to check if untreated mental health challenges play a role in propelling drug abuse relapse in patients.
Article Research Question
The study's research question was: Does mental distress and pretreatment intrinsic motivation for changing personal substance use predicts relapse after inpatient SUD treatment for illicit drug use, after adjusting for demographics (e.g. age, education) and treatment variables (e.g. length of stay, treatment completion)? (Andersson et al., 2019)
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Article Research Design Alignment
Strengths of the article are in its methodology section, which begins by highlighting the research question under the subtitle Aim . The research question posed on the Aim section captures the purpose accurately and comprehensively. Additionally, the study also describes variables and data collection techniques used in-depth and then shares primary characteristics to select samples. According to the authors, patients’ medical records were used to complete the study, while adhering to the Declaration of Helsinki ethical declaration of informed patient consent. All study participants had undergone treatment for illicit substance use, which substantiates the research significantly. Further, the study indicates it used statistical methods to analyze results, listed as IBM SPSS Statistics. Moreover, researchers provided predictor variables, such as existing mental health disorders in patients, inherent motivation for drug abuse, patient admission satisfaction, length of hospital stay, and treatment completion. Finally, the researchers use relapse to drug abuse as the primary variable and then provide the results of the study presented in statistical form. Overall, the study’s research design is well-done and covers all required areas of a typical methodology in a peer-reviewed journal.
Article Positionality
In research, the positionality of a study is the author’s personal interest in it. In peer reviewed papers, most authors indicate positionality on the abstract or towards the end of the literature review section ( Ravitch & Carl, 2020) . The researchers' positionality is provided by the abstract, which summarizes why they are interested in the study. The authors emphasize they believe drug abuse relapse post expensive treatment regimen in rehabilitation centers results from other factors, other than the immediate environment of the discharged patient. Andersson et al. (2019) insist that most medical practitioners do not check the mental conditions of treated drug abusers before releasing them from treatment centers. Therefore, drug abusers tend to relapse within one year after their discharge from rehabilitation centers because of distress and anxiety exacerbated by external environments. The authors assert they are interested in proving that mental conditions cause substance use relapse and provide proof in the research design section.
Article Reflexivity
Article reflexivity describes the authors’ reflection of work done. The authors recall their research journey and share insights gained and challenges faced while conducting the study. ( Lian, 2019) . In the article, reflexivity may is provided under the strengths and limitations, and conclusion sections. The researchers reflect that their study would be most effective in rehabilitation centers that experience multiple relapse cases of chronically addicted patients. Additionally, the authors note that one weakness of their study was that it did not account for relapse in drug abusers between 2 and 4 weeks after discharge from treatment centers. In the conclusion section of the study, the authors reflect the outcome of their research by indicating that medical practitioners should ensure their drug abuse patients receive treatment for mental health conditions before being released to interact with other community members.
Article Bias
Article bias is the provision of one-sided information by the authors. Typically, a scientific study can be viewed from diverse angles but the current research chooses to focus on one side of a topic with diverse interests only ( Galdas, 2017) . The article's bias is in its full consideration of mental health distress as the primary causative of drug abuse relapse in patients within one year post-release rehabilitation centers. The study fails to consider the relevance of other risk factors, such as lack of societal acceptance, unemployment, subsequent homelessness, and peer pressure. Further, the article indicates that its research targeted drug abusers who relapsed within one year of being discharged from intervention centers, yet some substance abusers re-use drugs after one week of leaving rehabilitation centers.
Personal Reflection
I have enjoyed analyzing the study extensively. I gained in-depth insight on ways to relate a research question to its purpose and how to create an excellent research design. Additionally, I learned to analyze the positionality of a scientific study and how to evaluate its reflexivity. Further, I have understood how to determine bias in a scientific research after completing the article analysis exercise. The only challenge I experienced was seeking primary details in the research design section, because the article is detailed. Overall, I am more educated on how to write an excellent academic paper and the need to state my position, reflect on my research journey, and avoid information bias.
References
Andersson, H. W., Wenaas, M., & Nordfjærn, T. (2019). Relapse after inpatient substance use treatment: A prospective cohort study among users of illicit substances. Addictive Behaviors , 90 (1), 222-228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2018.11.008
Galdas, P. (2017). Revisiting bias in qualitative research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods , 16 (1), 1-2. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406917748992
Lian, H. (2019). Positionality and power: Reflexivity in negotiating the relationship between land-lost farmers and the local government in China. International Journal of Qualitative Methods , 18 (1), 160940691986450. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406919864508
Ravitch, S. M., & Carl, N. M. (2020). Qualitative research: Bridging the conceptual, theoretical, and methodological . SAGE Publications.
