Quality of life among narcotic anonymous male members in Yazd City, Iran

Abstract

Background: Research evidence suggests that the quality of life (QoL) of substance abusers is seriously low. Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess domains of QoL in narcotic anonymous (NA) members. Patients and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 386 NA members were randomly selected from the city of Yazd, Yazd province, Iran, in 2012. The World Health Organization Quality of Life -Brief Questionnaire was used to assess domain scores of QoL. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and LSD test with SPSS software version 17. Results: The results showed that there was a significant difference between age, marital status, drug type used and length of abstinence with domains of QoL (P = 0.001). Conclusions: The findings of the current study show that consistent participation in NA self-help groups can significantly lead to an increase in QoL. Further research is recommended to find out causal relationships between participation in NA and QoL in Iran.