Best Approach to Treating Cocaine Addiction (Research Paper Sample)

Best Approach to Treating Cocaine Addiction
Name:
Professor:
Course:
Date
Best Approach to Treating Cocaine Addiction
The current research that Rawson et al. (2002) notes that methadone treatment is deemed the best treatment for cocaine addiction Methadone is a synthetic agent that occupies the receptors in the brain that have previously been occupied by cocaine in order to relieve euphoria, intoxication and withdrawal symptoms. The real issues arise from the length of methadone treatment. Even though, research shows that, no ill effects occur from continual use. However, the Center for Disease Control (2002) shows that most patients under methadone abandon the treatment before a year is complete; the clinic sometimes encourages the patients to leave or the patients fail to comply with the program. A more apparent reason is that taking methadone becomes difficult and unpleasant for most patients. In effect, most methadone patients relapse and start using cocaine again. In this light, the question of which treatment approach is best for treating cocaine addicts still remain. Other drug addiction treatments, such as CBT (Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy) and CM (Contingency Management) show promise in helping dissuade patients from using, even after the initial drug treatment is stopped. In this light, there is legitimacy in the potential to create an effective cocaine treatment by drawing from the use of CBT and CM after the initial treatment of methadone maintenance.
Research Question
What is the best approach to treating cocaine addiction?
Hypothesis
People taken off methadone maintenance treatment who continue their other treatments (CBT and CM) will have greater success at beating their addiction than people who continue with methadone maintenance treatment.
.
Sampling Method
According to the American Gastroenterological Association (2015), during patient sampling, the sample surveyed must represent the patient population under study. In this case, the first approach to sampling patients is identifying the patient characteristics. In this research, the patients under the study will be separated into two groups. One group of patients will have continued their initial methadone treatment (1 year) and been placed under CBT and CM. The other group will be comprised of patients who are continuing with methadone as a standalone treatment after one year. Information regarding such patients will be collected from three major hospitals dealing with cocaine addicts. Once a list of patients from the two groups is formed and their consent to participate in the research obtained, random sampling of each group of patients will take place. Random sampling is ideal because it ensures that variations between the selected sample and actual population are by chance, not selection bias. Stratified random sampling will be specifically used where potential patients are divided into the two groups and then select patients randomly from each sample.
Using the Survey Systems, an online calculator that determines the sample size, this research will recruit 384 participants. This is based on a confidence level of 95%, confidence interval of + or -5%, the national population of cocaine addicts (not users), which is roughly 1,000,000. Hence, more potential participants from both groups should be obtained to allow random selection of 192 participants per group (American Gastroenterological Association, 2015).
Statistics Employed
The research study will employ both inferential and descriptive statistics. According to Banyard, and Grayson (2007), descriptive statistics tend to quantitatively describe significant features of information or data obtained in the research. This simply means that descriptive statistics summarizes the data collected in a research into more understandable language. In this case, using descriptive statistics in the form of tables or graphs would be of benefit in quantifying the data collected in a manner that researchers or those reading the research can understand. Inferential statistics will be critical because this study because with only a small portion of the population being under study, it would be difficult to derive any parameters that provide the characteristics of the entire population of cocaine addicts. In this light, inferential statistics will be critical in generalization or drawing conclusions that will be able to tell whether CBT and CM is likely to benefit cocaine addicts after their initial methadone treatment when compared to cocaine addicts who continue using methadone. The T-Test will be particularly helpful when it comes to examining the differences between patients using methadone and those using CBT and CM to draw the conclusions.
Definition of variables
As Hayes (2002) notes, the independent variable is the condition that a researcher systematically manipulates. In this case, the independent variable is the drug treatment. This means that CBT and CM, as well as, methadone are independent variables. The dependent variable refers to outcomes measured in the research, and which change when the dependent variables undergo experimental manipulation. In this case, each person’s response from the drug treatment offered is the dependent variable. The control variable in this case is ensuring that each patient had undergone the initial methadone treatment (1 year and not more or less) to avoid biasing the application of the two treatments (continuation of methadone, and CBT and CM). Getting the initial treatment will ensure that each cocaine addict has received the same level of treatment prior to introducing the other two treatments. This will ensure that the two treatments introduced (continuation of methadone, and CBT and CM) give results that can be distinguished from the results of the initial methadone treatment, thus able to examine the efficacy of each treatment.
Operationalizing the Variables
Operationalizing variable implies finding quantifiable, valid index and measurable index for the variables. The methadone treatment will be measured in terms of mg/day where the standard dose of 60-120 mg/day required by most patients will be administered to patients. CBT and CM will be measured in the context of sessions. Typically, considering that the group has undergone the first-line of treatment with methadone, 3-5 sessions per week will be sufficient to yield the therapeutic effect needed to dissuade patients from relapsing. Considerably, for the control variable to work, urinalysis has to be conducted to determine the cocaine content in each of the patients. This will reveal whether the patient has relapsed and used cocaine within the treatment period; those who have relapsed will not qualify for the research study. In the case of effect of both methadone treatment, as well as, the combination of CBT and CM, in the 60-day period of conducting the research, different measures will be app...