Alcohol craving in women who receive addiction treatment

Abstract

Introduction: Craving is a condition that manifests when a person with a degree of alcohol dependence initiates a withdrawal process. This is the main symptom of addictive behaviors, where intensity is usually related to the patient’s improvement, and its presence influences the persistence of such behaviors, greatly. When craving appears with great intensity, it becomes one of the main causes of the patient’s relapse in alcohol consumption. Objective: to characterize the predominant level of craving in the inpatients receiving treatment in two female addiction clinics in the city of Cuenca, and at the same time, to associate it with socio-psychological variables such as age, education and marital status. Materials and Methods: The research methodology will be based mainly on quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional cohort, and non-probabilistic sampling, with an intentional sample of 32 unpaid female volunteers between the ages of 18 and 52. The Alcohol-Related Disorder identification test was the same used to characterize an alcohol use disorder. This allowed to identify women with alcohol dependence. The multidimensional alcohol craving scale was then applied. Results: The results show a craving level intensity of 53.1%, where a higher prevalence of 64.7% is present in single women with high school academic level, whose ages range between 18 to 29. Conclusions: It was found that, at the beginning of the withdrawal process, the women under study, present craving manifestation at mild, moderate or intense levels; where moderate or intense levels are significant.