Crack Cocaine User’s Protective Factors for Relapse

Abstract Background: Although available treatments may reduce the severity of crack cocaine use-related problems, a significant percentage of users resume drug abuse within a relatively short time after treatment. This relapse process is the return to the condition of pre-treatment drug consumption conditions. Crack cocaine users appear to be particularly prone to this dynamic, making relapse one of the biggest challenges for treating crack cocaine dependents. However, in the midst of this disheartening setting regarding the high relapse potential, a negligible part of the population of users remains in abstinence, not following this pattern of relapse, although they belong to contexts similar to relapsing users. This study aimed to identify the main characteristics of crack cocaine users, which protect them from relapse in the first six months after treatment. Methods: This is a study with 700 participants recruited through treatment institutions. Initially, data were analyzed descriptively and the existence of associations was verified by Chi-Square test or Fisher’s exact test. The Student t-test for independent samples was employed to compare the means between two groups. Logistic regressions were used to simultaneously evaluate the effects of demographic characteristics, history of use of crack cocaine on the occurrence of non-relapse. Results: The results of this work returned the following crack cocaine user’s main protective factors for relapse: being single but with a steady partner, or being separated or divorced, Catholic, not living in the streets or “Cracolândia”, not developing binge, withdrawal, dependence, abstinence (more than ten days) and drug late onset. Conclusion: Among these factors, not being abstinent is a protective factor for relapse that deserves attention, considering that the conventional treatment options available in Brazil consider abstinence as the only possible outcome.