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a larger proportion of the sample seen for follow-up than the group not seen for follow-up, 37% compared with 27.8%, and a larger proportion of the original sample of alcohol users was seen at three month follow-up compared to the proportion of heroin users of the original sample of heroin users. Participants in the follow-up group were significantly older, had significantly fewer days per week using, had a longer mean duration of use which did not reach significance, lower quantities of both heroin and alcohol used which also did not reach significance. They had significantly lower dependence scores but no significant difference was found in General Health Questionnaire scores or in Social Satisfaction Questionnaire scores though in both cases these scores were higher (denoting greater severity) for the group not seen at three months compared to the sample seen at three months.
Of the 151 individuals, who participated in the three month follow-up, 122 (80.8%) received treatment at the agency subsequent to their first assessment appointment. Of the 79 study participants (34.3% of the original sample) who did not participate in follow-up at three months, none received further treatment at the agency subsequent to their first assessment appointment.
8.2.2 Sample 6a: Changes in substance use and dependence between t1 and t2
A significant reduction was found in the average number of days per week using the primary drug at three month follow-up compared to intake in the sample seen at three months; a significant reduction was also found for the sample in mean dependence score, in General Health Questionnaire score and in Social Satisfaction Questionnaire score (reductions in all these scores denote improvement, see Table 8.6). When amount of drug used on the heaviest day was examined for the two substance groups separately, a significant reduction was found for the heroin group while the reduction found for the alcohol group did not reach significance.
In order to examine more closely the changes in patterns of use within the two substance groups, the number of days per week using was divided into four categories: abstinence, using on 1-3 days per week, using on 4-6 days per week and using daily. Data presented in Table 8.7 show that, in the heroin group, a significantly larger proportion of participants were abstinent at three month follow-up compared to baseline, a greater proportion were using intermittently at the three month follow-up and the proportion of the sample using daily was halved. In the alcohol group, the proportion abstinent had increased from 25% to 35.7%, there was an increase from 30.4% to 37.5% of the alcohol group drinking intermittently and the proportion drinking on a daily basis was reduced from 44.6% to 25%.
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