Spiritual and religious support in recovery from addiction among HIV-positive injection drug users

The current study examined the association between support and comfort deri ved from religion or spirituality and abstinence from illicit drugs in a sa mple of 43 HIV-positive injection drug users entering a methadone maintenan ce program. Patients with high ratings of perceived spiritual or religious support were abstinent from illicit drugs significantly longer during the f irst six months of methadone maintenance than were patients with lower rati ngs. Controlling for the influence of pretreatment variables (addiction and psychiatric severity, CD4 count, social support, and optimism), and during -treatment variables (methadone dose and attendance at counseling sessions) , hierarchical regression analysis showed that strength of religious and sp iritual support was a significant independent predictor of abstinence. Thes e findings suggest that spirituality may be an important dimension of patie nt experience to assess in future addiction treatment outcome research.