The Effectiveness of a Guided Repentance Module: A Qualitative Analysis of Psycho Spiritual and Drug-Related Locus of Control

Due to the worrying relapse rates recovering addicts fall prey into regardless after receiving treatment and discharged from rehabilitation custody, an integrated psych spiritual module or specifically named Guided Repentance Module had been developed by researchers to curb this grappling relapse issue. Outlined in the this Islamic psych spiritual module are Islamic Sufism principles combined with interpersonal and intrapersonal elements, and is intervened by means of psycho-educational method delivery. Hence, this paper is undertaken to examine the effectiveness of a Guided Repentance Module intervened towards addicts, from a qualitative analysis of psych spiritual and drug-related locus of control, which act as the weightages in the module. This study employed an interview method with 38 participants from a selected rehabilitation center in Malaysia. The data collected is analyzed by using content analysis and several themes have been extracted from the participants’ feedback. From the findings, with respect to drug-related locus of control aspect, there are three themes which are i) emotions control, ii) understanding the importance of support system and iii) relapse prevention strategies. Whereas, for psych spiritual aspects, five themes have been derived. They are categorized as, i) the enhancement of faith in God existence, His Power, His Greatness and dependence to God in recovery, ii) having positive reflection in God’s fate, iii) the control of desire, iv) emulation of Rasulullah PBUH’s characters and v) the heightened understanding about Heaven and Hell. Thus, it was concluded that Guided Repentance Module is proven as effective as their sense of locus of control is enhanced for them to be fully responsible on their behaviors and psych spiritual dimension is complemented accordingly as internal strengths for them to maintain abstinence in recovery.