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presented and changes detected over the two follow-up periods are described.
8.1 Sample 6: questionnaire and interview results t1
A total of 230 individuals were seen at t1, 152 (66.1%) of whom were primary heroin users and 78 (33.9%) were primary alcohol users, 182 (79.1%) were male and 48 (20.9%) were female (see Table 8.1). The mean age for the whole group was 29.5 years, the range was 15 to 80 years. As described in Chapter 7, section 7.1.4, this sample constituted nearly 82% of consecutive attenders at the host agency over a five month period. Given the exclusion criteria of active mental illness, intoxication and (one) refusal to participate, this sample was thought to be representative of the population of people attending the agency with primary heroin and alcohol dependence and related problems. Generalisability from the study sample is further discussed in Chapter 10.
Mean duration of self-reported use of the primary substance was 8.1 years with a range of 3 months to 66 years and mean duration of self-reported problem use was 4.4 years with a range of .08 to 55 years. Twenty-six individuals (11.3%) reported total abstinence for the past seven days, 35 (15.1%) reported using between one and five days of the past week and 169 (73.5%) reported using on seven days of the week. Ninety-six participants said that they were attempting abstinence, while134 said they were not.
Table 8.1
Drug group and age by gender: Sample 6 (n = 230)
heroin alcohol age
total
mean SD range
male
123
59
29.2
11.3
15-80
182 (79.1%)
female
29
19
30.7
12.8
17-80
48 (20.9%)
total
152 (66.1%) 78 (33.9%)
230 (100%)
The mean dependence score for the whole sample was 20.2 (SD = 7), range 0-30; mean score for the General Health Questionnaire for the whole sample was 8.2 (SD = 3.5), range 0-12 and the mean Social Satisfaction score for Sample 6 was 9.9 (SD = 5.7), range 0-24. The higher the
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