Abstract:
This research is a quasi-experimental study involving two groups with repeated measures design. The objectives were to compare: 1) the heroin use of adolescents addicted to heroin injections who received family communication program before, during, and after the intervention. 2) the heroin use of adolescents addicted to heroin injections who received family communication program versus those who received usual care before, during, and after the intervention. The sample were adolescents with heroin injection used disorder aged 18-24 years and father or mother, consisting of 50 families who met the inclusion criteria and receiving services at Harm Reduction in Princess Mother National Institute on Drug Abuse. The samples were selected using purposive sampling and matched pairs based on similar levels of heroin injection. They were divided into an experimental group and a control group, each consisting of 25 families. The experimental group received the family communication program developed by researcher, based on the family communication concept of Koerner and Fitzpatrick (2002), while the control group received usual care. Research instrument comprised of: 1) the Family Communication Program 2) the Timeline Follow Back assessment for heroin use 3) the Family Communication Pattern Assessment. All instruments were reviewed for content validity by 5 experts. The third instrument was back-translated by the Chulalongkorn University Language Institute and adjusted for appropriateness, with a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of .85. Data were analyzed using non-parametric statistics, including the Friedman test, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and Mann-Whitney U Test, with statistical significance at the level .025, .0167, .05 respectively The findings of this research were summarized as follows: 1. Adolescent heroin injectors who received the family communication program showed a significant reduction in heroin use during and after the intervention compared to before the intervention, with statistical significance at the .05 level. 2. Adolescent heroin injectors who received the family communication program showed a significant reduction in heroin use compared to the group that received usual care, during and after the intervention, with statistical significance at the .05 level.