Effectiveness of a music based intervention in enhancing problem recognition among clients with substance use disorders in residential treatment centers in Kenya

Abstract

The treatment of clients with substance use disorders (SUDs) is a challenge especially when they lack insight into the substance use problem. Such clients may not seek treatment and if they do, may not benefit much from it. Therefore there was a need to enhance problem recognition (PR) among such clients. The study sought to determine the effectiveness of music-based intervention (MBI) in enhancing problem recognition among clients with substance use disorders in residential treatment in Kenya. The objective was to determine if there were significant differences in PR between clients exposed to MBI and the control group in a selected residential treatment center in Kenya. The study used a quasi-experimental, none-quivalent control group pretest posttest design. A total of 40 clients participated in the study, with the experimental and control group having 20 participants each. Findings revealed that the experimental group had significantly higher levels of PR at post-test compared to the control group after controlling for various covariates, suggesting that MBI in addition to treatment as usual may have contributed to increased PR in the treatment group. This indicates that the MBI was effective in enhancing PR among clients with SUDs. Therefore, the MBI may be used as an evidencebased complementary intervention in enhancing problem recognition among clients with SUD in treatment settings in Kenya.