Publication:

An assessment of available treatment facilities at different treatment centers of Sikkim: a cross sectional baseline study from dependents’ perspective

Background Substance dependence is a major challenge for the economic wellbeing of an individual, society or a country. There is a huge gap between treatment demand and supply. Treatment facilities provided by the centers are different and are many a times lesser and inferior than required. This study was aimed to explore the status of basic facilities in the treatment centers of Sikkim from dependents’ perspectives.

Methods This study was conducted with n=241 participants who were undergoing treatment in seven different treatment centers of Sikkim. Reliable and pre-validated sociodemographic and treatment facility questionnaires were administered by the investigator on personal interview. Answers were recorded on the questionnaire and the same was entered in SPSS following which frequency and chi square analysis was done.

Results There were more male participants than females. Also, more number of participants were from Nepali, Hindu and urban origin. 31% participants were found to be unemployed. Knowledge about other treatment centers was fair (66%) and maximum had the knowledge of present treatment facilities. More than 90% participants were not satisfied with the contact facilities and nutritional supplements (98%). At around 41% participants reported that the education sessions were either boring or useless or both.

Conclusions In order to increase the entry in the treatment, there is a need to improve the quality of different facilities at the treatment centers. Also, there is a need of intermittent audit of the minimum required facilities.