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independent at the pretreatment data collection point, were included: dependence score (LDQ), psychological health score (GHQ), social satisfaction score (SSQ), coping behaviours (CBI) and attempts to control use (ICSAC). Treatment was included as the ninth independent variable due to its importance as the most manipulable variable in this help seeking population. Treatment data were routinely collected by clinical and administrative staff outside the present study and recorded as number of discrete attendances, nature and duration of intervention. Only those sessions which involved a counselling component and occurred after the initial assessment appointment and before the follow-up interview were extracted from the treatment database. Daily attendances at the clinic room for monitoring of withdrawal symptoms or collection of medication were excluded. The number of treatment sessions was included in the model as an independent variable; type or content of treatment were not specified due to the unreliability of the data on the nature of the intervention. The dependent variable, change in dependence, was computed as the difference between total dependence score at intake and at three months and regressed on the nine independent variables in linear regression analysis. The results are presented in Table 9.20.
Table 9.20
Linear regression analysis for the dependent variable: change in dependence between intake and three months: Sample 6a (n=151)
(Constant)
age
sex
substance
LDQ t1
GHQ t1
SSQ t1
ICSAC t1
CBI t1 treatment t1 - t2
Unstandardized Standardized t Sig. Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta
-2.03 4.76 -.43 .67
.12 .09 -1.07 1.68 -1.49E-02 .02 .47 .11 .21 .24 -.15 .15 -8.02E-03 .15 -1.52E-02 .04 .28 .31
.14 1.26 .21 -.05 -.64 .53 -.08 -.75 .46 .40 4.12 .001 .09 .90 .37 -.09 -1.00 .32 -.01 -.05 .96 -.03 -.40 .69 .07 .90 .37
Total dependence score at intake emerged as the only significant predictor of change in dependence at three months. When the variables were entered into the regression analysis in stages, the first stage consisting of the three demographic variables age, sex and drug, the drug variable was the one with the most significant t value (just below 10%) but any possible significance of this variable disappeared when it was included in the next stage with the five independent baseline psychological, social and behavioural variables, namely dependence, psychological health, social satisfaction, coping and attempts to control.
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