Dissertation to receive a master's degree (M.A) in clinical psychology
Abstract
Aim: The purpose of this research was to determine the effectiveness of the matrix method on reducing the high-risk sexual behaviors of addicted men in Kermanshah. Method: The research method was quasi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The statistical population of the study was male drug addicts from Kermanshah city, which was selected by available sampling method. Subjects were given a questionnaire of risky sexual behaviors. The number of 24 people was randomly replaced in two experimental and control groups with an equal number (n=12). The experimental group underwent group psychotherapy intervention for 8 sessions of 90 minutes twice a week. After the sessions, the two groups were given a post-test.
Findings: The findings showed a significant difference in the average high-risk behaviors of the experimental group and the control group. The results of covariance analysis showed that the matrix method was significantly effective in reducing risky sexual behaviors and the number of sexual partners. Also, the results of the dependent t-test showed that there was no significant difference between marital status in high-risk people.
Conclusion: The results showed that the matrix method can probably reduce high-risk sexual behavior among addicts, so this approach may be used to reduce high-risk sexual behaviors in high-risk groups in order to prevent HIV infection.
Keywords: Matrix method, high-risk behaviors Sex, HIV, drug addicts.
Introduction
In reviewing history, no human society can be found that does not struggle with the problem of drugs, and it can be said that drugs are the same as humans in this world, and as long as humans exist in this field, it will continue to exist. Issues related to drugs are not new, and their effects can always be found in the fate of nations and tribes (Sohrabi, Hadian, Asgharanjad, 2007).
The biggest social problem in Iran today is addiction, which is the problem and problem of millions of young people who are the main inheritors of the country. Today, addiction to all kinds of drugs and related problems are threatening the new generation of the country in a very dangerous and unfortunate way. The spread of drugs and addiction has been considered one of the country's first-rate problems for many years, and the efforts that have been made so far to curb this phenomenon, despite the wishes of the people and the government, have had little success due to various reasons (Sohrabi, Hadian, Asgharanjad, 2017).
Addiction is a chronic mental and physical condition that is caused by the repeated use of drugs in a person, during which the person has a physical and mental need and desire to use drugs again. comes During addiction, a person constantly increases his drug consumption, and as a result of stopping drugs, deprivation syndromes develop in the person (Sadok and Sadok[1], 2008; translated by Rezaei, 2018).
Addiction affects all individual and social behaviors and as the most important social damage, it has invaded human society (Hoshang and Jazayeri, 2017). Drug addicts are one of the high-risk groups (Jerlaiz [2], 2008), so it seems necessary to carry out interventions to reduce their high-risk behaviors because addiction as a social harm may never be completely eradicated, but with planning, thought and real effort, at least the harms related to it, such as high-risk sexual behaviors, and as a result, the speed of the spread and transmission of AIDS can be reduced. One of the interventions that has been successful and popular in recent decades in the field of changing or reducing inappropriate behaviors is the matrix method, which has been used as an individual and group treatment independently or together with other treatments in various fields (Makri Vakhtiari, 2018). Considering problems such as HIV infection and sexually transmitted diseases that can be caused by high-risk behaviors, with the exception of suicide, there are more boys than girls (Lindberg, Boggess and Williams[3], 2000) and taking into account the large number of addicts in the world and our country, and taking into account that illicit sexual relations have been reported among about half of the addicts (Razaghi, 1999). This research aims to use the matrix method training and its possible effect on mastering emotions and behaviors, as well as the role of this method in more appropriate decision-making, to carry out an intervention to reduce high-risk sexual behaviors in addicted men.
Statement of the problem
With the beginning of the new century, human societies are facing the big social-psychological problem of drug abuse. In other words, drug abuse is a global phenomenon and there are few countries where this problem does not exist. Today, drug abuse has gone beyond the boundaries of individual and psychological disorders and has become a social problem, which is referred to as the plague of the century and the scourge of burning women.
According to the report of the Anti-Narcotics Headquarters, after accidents, the second cause of death in suspicious deaths is the complications caused by addiction (Raghibi and Pourghazi, 2014). The first published report on drug use in Iran dates back to the 17th century, but the first official written statistics on the number of drug users in Iran is from 1948, which mentions the number of opium addicts at 1,250,000 out of a total population of 1,400,000 (Razzaghi, Rahimi and Madani, 2011). The epidemic of drug use took place in 28 provinces of the country in 1383, the number of drug addicts in the country who needed medical services was estimated between 1,500,000 and 1,800,000 people (Naranjiha, 1383). Estimates based on UN reports show that 1.5 to 2% of Iran's population has a serious problem or abuse of drugs (Mohammadi, 2010).
Addiction is one of the biggest problems of our society. Addiction is caused by various social, psychological and biological factors and problems. Drug addicts are among the high-risk groups for contracting infections caused by viruses such as hepatitis C, hepatitis B, and AIDS. Among the high-risk behaviors of drug addicts, we can mention the shared use of contaminated syringes to inject substances, which causes the transmission of the mentioned infections among these people (Ataei, Salehi, Javadi, Khoroosh, Atefeh El-Sadat et al., 2019).
Among other high-risk behaviors in drug addicts, we can mention high-risk sexual behaviors in them, which is an effective factor in the spread of AIDS infection in other social groups, and these cases include multiple sexual partners and behavior Sex is without the use of protective devices such as condoms (Ataei, Salehi, Javadi, Khoroosh, Atefeh Al-Sadat et al., 2019).
Any sex (oral, vaginal, and anal) that is performed without the use of sexual safety devices such as male or female condoms, in which the possibility of contracting AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases increases, is called high-risk sexual behavior (Sadok and Sadok[4], 2008; translated by Reza'i, 2018). Also, having multiple sexual partners and having sexual intercourse while using drugs are among high-risk sexual behaviors (Bakting[5], Rosser[6] and Skelma[7], 1999).
At the same time, in various researches, the relationship between high-risk sexual behaviors and other variables has been examined, such as the prevalence of high-risk sexual behaviors (Heidari, Mirahamdizadeh, Kashtkaran, Etimidi, and Lotfi, 2013). The time and method of teaching sexual issues (Jalali, Nahidi, Amir Ali Akbari and Alavi Majdeh, 2014), the need to provide the necessary sexual awareness to addicted people (Ataei, Salehi, Javadi, Khorosh, Atefeh Al-Sadat et al., 2015), the use of the planned approach model to community health (Yazdanpanah, Safari, Yousefi, Anga, Habibian, et al., 2015), the effect of methadone therapy in reducing behaviors high-risk sex (Mursli, 2017), the effect of attention-deficit hyperactivity syndrome [8] on the tendency to high-risk sex behaviors (Mikaili and Hashemi, 2012). Psychological predictors of high-risk sexual behaviors (Mikaili and Hashemi, 2012). All these researches have expressed the importance and extent of the problem of high-risk sexual behaviors.
Evidences show that addiction is currently one of the biggest and most costly problems in our society, which is currently expanding (Sebazi Khoshnami, 2019). Estimates show that the amount of direct and indirect economic-social damages of drugs and addiction and problems related to it such as transmission and contracting AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases and its treatment in the country is 700 billion tomans annually, and part of this cost is related to diseases related to addiction and addicts such as AIDS and hepatitis (Sadeghi Ahri, 2013). Statistics show a high prevalence. According to the report, 55.8% of drug addicts had sexual relations outside the framework of the family (Ataei, Salehi, Javadi, Khorosh, Atefeh Al-Sadat et al., 2009).