Abstract:

Background: Relapse is seen in people with substance use disorder after treatment. Studies have documented that relapse rate following treatment are high in three weeks to six months’ period following treatment.

Methodology: This was a hospital based cross sectional study that was conducted at Sekoutoure Hospital and Bugando Medical Centre in Mwanza city where a total of 375 participants were included in the study. Social demographic data and information about factors associated with relapse to substance use disorder were obtained by using a pre- tested semi- structured questionnaire. The collected data were cleaned and analyzed by SPSS v. 20 software. Descriptive statistics including frequency was used to summarize participant’s baseline social demographic data. For categorical variables the relationship between sex, age, marital status, and factors for relapse were determined using chi-square statistics at P<0.05 level of significance

Results: Majority (91.7%) of the participants were males. The mean age of the participants was 32.95 (SD…6.89.) with more than half of the respondents 51.20% used more than three substances in their lifetime. Majority of participants 75 (38.66%) relapsed within two weeks after hospitalization. There was significant association between number of relapses and family history of substance use (X2=317.401, p value= 0.01), and friends engaging in substance use (x= 374.893 p value= 0.01).

Conclusion Prevalence of relapse after treatment of substance use disorder was very high and the risk factors identified included family conflicts, history of substance use disorder in the family, availability and accessibility of drugs, peer group influences. Further studies should be carried out on the prevalence of relapse and factors associated to substance use disorders at the national level