Mindfulness and relapse prevention

Abstract

Background: The relapse rate for substance use disorders (SUD) is estimated to be between 40% to 60%. With this high rate, adjunctive interventions, such as mindfulness, that compliment pharmacological interventions to prevent relapse could be beneficial. Purpose: The objective of this quality improvement project was to assess effectiveness of training peer workers on mindfulness and use of guided meditation on increasing personal practice of mindfulness at home to support themselves, and ultimately the consumers with SUD in outpatient recovery programs to prevent relapse. Methods: A single group of peer workers was trained on mindfulness with a mobile phone application of guided meditation to practice daily mindfulness. Data was collected using a demographic questionnaire, a mobile based mindfulness survey, and the applied mindfulness process scale (AMPS). The assessment on mindfulness was completed at baseline (pre-assessment) and 4 weeks after (post-assessment). Results: The AMPS scores increased in 5 out of 6 participants after 4 weeks which suggested increased mindfulness practice. Conclusion: Even though more research is needed on use of mindfulness practices, the results from this project suggest that training on mindfulness and use of guided meditation should be explored further to help prevent relapse through improving awareness of triggers, positive outlook of life situations and control of negative emotions which precede relapse.