The Effect of Group Counseling Therapy Approach to Psychological Well-Being of Adolescent Girls Treated With Methadone in Iran: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Today, because of the increasing prevalence of addiction in society, there are many costs for treating addicts and returning them to normal life. This will not be possible except for new and effective methods. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effect of the group counseling approach on the psychological well-being of adolescent girls treated with methadone. Methods: This is a quasiexperimental study with a pretest and post-test with a control group. For this purpose, 50 people were purposefully selected, then randomly divided into 2 groups of 25 students of control and experimental group and in 10 sessions, twice a week for 2 hours they underwent group therapy counseling. The instrument used in this study was the psychological well-being scale as pretest and post-test. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and multivariate analysis of covariance. Results: The results showed that the intervention with the therapeutic approach of group counseling in psychological well-being has a significant effect on the lives of target people in the experimental group (P<0.01). Conclusions: According to the results of the study, it is recommended that this type of education be considered along with medication to improve the psychological well-being of adolescents treated with methadone. Therapeutic approach group counseling as part of corrective action can reduce the anxious thoughts of patients receiving methadone treatment.