Models of recovery: influence of psychosocial factors on substance use recovery

Background: The aim of this study is to analyze several psychosocial factors such as gender, legal or illegal substance use (alcohol and cocaine use), age, employment and social support to determine models of recovery. Methods: quantitative research. Data from 2179 people receiving recovery treatment were extracted from EuropASI surveys, collected from the PH Nemos and Minerva databases. A two-factor multivariate and two univariate analysis of covariance were performed. The dependent variables were alcohol and years of cocaine use, the factors were gender and leisure social network, and the co-variables were age and number of people in the social network. Post-hoc tests were performed to analyze the differences among the five different leisure social network categories, and alcohol and cocaine use. Results: Variables with the biggest influence on recovery are age, gender, and leisure social network. Two models of recovery with significant differences can be identified (Model 1/alcohol use, Model 2/cocaine use); for the alcohol model, individual leisure was the most important risk condition, while for the cocaine model individual leisure was the most important protective condition. Conclusions: personal and social recovery adapted to the different characteristics of the people is essential to increase social integration and participation.