Assessing the Interplay of Religious Coping, Cravings, and Readiness for Change in Individuals with Opioid and Alcohol Dependence: A Prospective Study

Introduction: Globally, alcohol dependence is affecting approximately 6.5% of men and 1.5% of women. It often develops in early adulthood but can start at any age after repeated continued exposure to alcoholic beverages. Opioid dependence develops after regular use of opioids, a necessary but not sufficient condition for developing opioid dependence. In view of the alarming increase of these substances, there is a need to understand the religious coping and religious attitudes among individuals with opioid dependence syndrome and alcohol dependence syndrome. Methods : The study aimed to assess the religious attitude and coping and their interaction with craving and readiness to change among Opioid dependence syndrome (ODS) and Alcohol dependence syndrome (ADS). The study was a prospective study. A total of 40 respondents, 20 respondents were diagnosed with ODS, and 20 were diagnosed with ADS. The data was collected through the religious attitude scale and brief religious cope, severity of dependence, Desire for Drug Questionnaire (DDQ), and the Stages of Change Readiness and Treatment Eagerness Scale (SOCRATES) (8D and 8A) and repeated on days 7 and 14. Statistics procedures were used and tested with the SPSS 25 version. Results: The main results evidenced in this study were that patients with alcohol dependence have higher positive religious coping than opioid-dependent patients. The ADS group uses more positive coping comparing the ODS Group. The positive religious coping in the ADS group has led to better outcomes in craving reduction and readiness to change compared to the ODS group.