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Bazrafshan MR, Delam H, Kavi E
J Health Sci Surveillance Sys April 2020; Vol 8; No 2
The Importance of Life Skills Training in
Preventing Addiction Recurrence between
January and February 2020: A Narrative
Review Article
Mohammad-Ra Bazrafshan1,
PhD; Hamed Delam2, MSc;
Esmaeil Kavi1*, MSc
1Department of Nursing, Larestan
University of Medical Sciences,
Larestan, Iran;
2Student Research Committee,
Larestan University of Medical
Sciences, Larestan, Iran
Correspondence:
Esmaeil Kavi, MSc;
Department of nursing, Larestan
University of Medical Sciences, Postal
code: 74318-95639, Larestan, Iran
Tel : +98 71 52247110
Fax: +98 71 52255278
Email: kavi.esmaeil@gmail.com
Received: 28 January 2020
Revised: 29 February 2020
Accepted: 26 March 2020
Review ARticle
Abstract
Background: Drug abuse problem is one of the four global
crises and the most important social crisis in Iran. This study
was conducted to investigate the importance of life skills training
in preventing the recurrence of addiction among young people.
Methods: The present article is a narrative review performed
by two researchers between January and February 2020 by
searching in scientic databases in articles published in Scopus,
Pubmed, Google scholar and Google search engine including the
terms “addiction”, “youth” , “Coping skills”, “adaptability skills”,
“life skills training”, and “drug abuse”.
Results: The results of various studies indicate that the life skills
training program increases the feeling of happiness, improves
the quality of life of people, and increases the ability to control
emotions.
Conclusion: Due to the positive impact of life skills training and
its applicability to all segments of society, planners and managers
in the community’s mental health sector can set up centers to
continuously hold such classes and conduct life skills training
even as in-service training program.
Please cite this article as: Bazrafshan MR, Delam H, Kavi E. The Importance
of Life Skills Training in Preventing Addiction Recurrence bet ween January
and February 2020: A Narrative Review Article. J Health Sci Surveillance Sys.
2020;8(2):58-62.
Keywords: Life, Social skills, Drug addiction, Education
Introduction
For many years, human society has been plagued by
the problem of addiction, and in this predicament,
human and society have always suffered materially
and spiritually. Drug abuse problem is one of the four
global crises and the most important social crisis in
our country, which is closely related to other economic
and cultural aspects of the country.
1
Unfortunately,
today, many of the country’s prisons are occupied by
addicts and drug addict offenders.
2
Also, in the last
three decades, the world has been faced with shocking
statistics on the prevalence of substance abuse in society,
especially among adolescents and young people.
3,
4
According to statistics, addiction affects more than
15 percent of the young population over the age of 15
in the United States.3 Today, the risk of substance use
in the younger generation has increased;as a result,
the mental health of this group has been seriously
endangered. Reports indicate that young members of
society are not immune to various psychosocial harms
and are at risk of drug and substance abuse.5-7 In order
to start and continue to use drugs, unhealthy growth
conditions, various underlying factors need special
in terve ntion and cha r acter i stic s, th e foundat ion of which
is within the family and then in society. However, in the
field of addiction, various psychological and familial
biological factors are involved.
8
Due to the harmful
effects of pharmaceutical, health, socio-economic
and legal effects of substance abuse, the society needs
serious attention to expand more effective preventive
strategies.
4
Cho osi n g the right copi ng stra tegie s for stre ss
can improve a person’s physical and mental health.9, 10
People with substance abuse problems have cognitive
59
The impor tance of life skills training in preventing addiction recurrence
J Health Sci Surveillance Sys April 2020; Vol 8; No 2
and lifestyle disorders associated with abuse problems
such as lack of awareness, difficulty making decisions,
poor judgment, lack of insight, lack of problem-solving
skills, job skills, social and personal skills, and negative
self-perceptions. In these individuals, self-esteem and
self-evaluation are low in terms of cognitive, behavioral,
moral, and family relationships.11 One of the methods
that researchers suggest is life skills training. The term
life skills refers to a large group of psychosocial and
interpersonal skills that can help individuals make
informed decisions and communicate effectively with
others and achieve the comfort of physical-mental, and
social well-being and deal effectively with the needs
and challenges of their daily lives.
12
In gene ral, life skill s
training is a comprehensive program, and in fact it is an
approach that affects the development of the skills that
a person needs to live. Self-awareness, empathy, proper
communication, decision making, problem solving,
anger management, and coping with stress skills are
the most important concepts of these trainings.
13
Studie s
have shown that improving life skills, including coping
skills and psychosocial abilities, is very effective in
promoting life conditions. Psychosocial abilities help a
person cope effectively and deal with the struggles and
achievements of life. These abilities enable the individual
to act positively and compromised in relation to other
human beings, society, culture, and environment,
and to provide their mental health.
13
According to
Bandura, the person, environment, and behavior have
an effect on each other and none of the components is
separate from each other. In Bandura’s social learning
perspective, learning is also an active process based
on environmental experience; therefore, children and
individuals learn active life skills and interact with
the environment during active learning and training.
Therefore, in this type of training, the methods that
facilitate the active participation of individuals in the
training of social skills and individual and interpersonal
communication are used.14-16 In the study of Beigi and
Shirazi, which was performed on 32 patients undergoing
methadone treatment in Shahroud city with the aim of
making life skills training effectiveness on improving
their quality of life in 2012, the results showed that life
skills training was effective, meaning that people who
were trained in life skills, including effective stress
management techniques, decision-making and problem-
solving skills, and effective communication skills,
significantly improved coping skills. And life problems
were associated with and clearly demonstrated the role
of life skills in promoting effective communication with
others and increasing problem-based coping strategies.37
The effectiveness of these trainings contributes to the
reduction of smoki ng, alcohol, and subst ance abuse;17, 18
preventing violence and delinquency;
19
preventing
suicide;20 -22 and reducing stress and anxiety.23 The life
skills training program is designed to promote mental
health and prevent social harm. The basic premise for
designing this program is research on psychological
and social harms, and its main pur pose is to provide
opportunities for promoting life skills in addition to
gaining professional job skills. Therefore, since the
lack of basic life skills eliminates the potential for
social harm, this study was conducted to investigate
the importance of life skills training in preventing the
recurrence of addiction among young people.
Methods
The present article is a narrative review performed by
two researchers between January and February 2020 by
searching in scientific databases in articles published
in Scopus, Pubmed, Google scholar and Google search
engine including the terms “addiction”, “youth”, “coping
skills”, “adaptability skills”, “life skills training”. All
currently available full text articles in English or Persian
languages were examined. Abstracts of papers presented
at the congresses, and conferences were excluded.
After conducting the search, 68 articles were
rst retrieved, and after applying the inclusion and
exclusion criteria, as well as reviewing duplicate
re sult s in the se a rched ar t icles , 27 article s were n ally
selected to extract the content.
Results
So far, the effectiveness of life skills training has been
measured on a number of factors. For example, Mahdavi
Haji et al. in a study examined the effectiveness of life
skills training on happiness, quality of life and emotion
control. The findings of this study indicate that the
life skills training program increases the feeling of
happiness, improves the quality of life of people, and
increases the ability to control emotions.13 According to
Moha m m a di’s research, te achin g the se ski lls to stude nts
increases their satisfaction with life.24 Researchers also
studied the effect of life skills training on the mental
health of students in a study and concluded that these
trainings had significant and positive effects on the
mental health of the experimental group.
25
In general,
the skills needed to prevent relapse in young people can
be divided into the following types:
A) Self-awareness skills: the individual
recognizes its strengths and weaknesses in this
skill;26, 27 B) Empathy skills: they are the experience
of understanding the circumstances and feelings of
others in such a way that the individual puts itself
in another place and looks at the situation from its
perspective;28-30 C) Anger Management: Anger is
a type of basic emotion that is institutionalized in
the creation of many creatures. Itis a behavioral
response that is closely related to components such
as stress and hostility31, 32 and is followed by feelings
frustration.33 Following this type of excitement, a
series of involuntary physiological responses such as
high blood pressure and heart rate occur.34, 35 When
60
Bazrafshan MR, Delam H, Kavi E
J Health Sci Surveillance Sys April 2020; Vol 8; No 2
anger is out of control and destructive, it causes major
disruptions in work, interpersonal relationships, and
overall quality of life,36 so the important thing is to
manage it; D) Stress management skills: They are
methods that people can use to reduce perceived stress
or increase their ability to cope with life’s stresses;37
E) Coping skills: When people are stressed, they
need to have the necessary coping skills to minimize
its detrimental eects. If stress is managed, an
individual will be able to cope better with the needs
and challenges of life;
38
F) Strengthening the social
support: People who are isolated or accustomed to
loneliness are at high risk of failure in the face of
events; thus, social support by community health and
support networks helps people to treat and control
stress; G) Interpersonal Relationship Skills: Every
social activity exchanges information, and a group
needs to be organized in order to stay aoat, and it is
through communication that the individual introduces
itself to others; H) Problem Solving and Decision
Making Skills: Naturally, each choice, depending on
its complexity or simplicity, inicts a certain amount
of stress on the person; therefore, having problem-
solving skills to cope eectively, reduce or eliminate
stress, and feel satised with the decision-making
process in a creative way is considered essential.39
Life skills training are generally eective
in improving the social skills of participants.
40
Researchers showed that after training, self-esteem,
decision-making power and social skills of individuals
increase and this leads to an improvement in their
lives.40- 42 So far, the eectiveness of life skills training
has been measured about a number of factors. For
example, Mahdavi Haji et al. in a study examined the
eectiveness of life skills training on happiness, quality
of life and emotion control. The ndings of this study
indicate that the life skills training program increases
the feeling of happiness, improves the quality of life of
people, and increases the ability to control emotions.13
According to Mohammadi’s research, teaching these
skills to students increases their satisfaction with life.24
Resea r ch al so showed the eec t of li fe sk i lls trai n i ng on
the mental health of students in a study and concluded
that these trainings had signicant and positive eects
on the mental health of the experimental group.25 Life
skills training can be provided to individuals and
families by the community’s physical and mental health
support bodies as one of the psychosocial support
services. These trainings are very economical with
the aim of prevention at dierent levels. One of the
important factors in teaching life skills is the skill of
coping with st ress. Simil ar studies have be en conduc t ed
to investigate the impact of stress coping skills training
so far, all of which conrm the eectiveness of this
program, including Paul’s research.
43
In general, life
skills provide a powerful tool in the hands of health care
providers so that by teaching them, they can improve
the general health of people depending on the needs of
the target population. For example, a study by Magnani
et al. conducted by the United States Center for Public
Health in South Africa aimed at examining the impact
of life skills training on high-risk sexual behaviors; in
this study, the researcher focused on a life-centered
life skills training in AIDS.
44
The World Health
Organization also denes life skills as “the ability to
engage in adaptive and positive behaviors that enable
the individuals to eectively deal with the needs and
challenges of everyday life”.45 These abilities include
cognitive, emotional, interpersonal, and social skills in
which people develop self-awareness, self-management,
social awareness, communication, and responsible and
correct decision-making skills. Self-awareness skills
include building self-condence and self-esteem, self-
monitoring, self-evaluation, and goal setting. Self-
management skills include anger and stress control
skills, time management, adaptive and coping skills,
and relaxation techniques. Social awareness skills
include empathy skills, active listening, identifying
and respecting individual and group dierences.
Communication skills include the skills of negotiation
and eective communication, conict management,
and group formation. Responsible decision-making
skills include gathering information, critical thinking,
and evaluating the expected outcomes.
46
Life skills
enable people to be successful in dealing with their
surroundings. Goudas believes that life skills can
be physical, such as maintaining good physical and
behavioral status, such as eective communication
with family and community members, or cognitive,
such as making wise and cor rect decisions.47 Therefore,
since the lack of appropriate life skills in clients has
many individual and social consequences on their
health and family and friends and ultimately society,
life skills training can be considered as a way to provide
support services to this vulnerable segment of society.
Learning life skills by directing one’s attention to
oneself enlightens one’s feelings, attitudes, and latent
conicts, and gradually develops coping and adaptive
skills to deal with problems and solve them. One of the
main limitations of this study was the lack of access to
the full text of some articles.
Conclusion
Due to the positive impact of life skills training and its
applicability to all segments of society, planners and
managers in the community’s mental health sector can
set up centers to continuously hold such classes and
hold life skills training programs even in the form of
in-service training of employees and in case of passing
the course, they can insert it in the personnel file and
also provide counseling services to the vulnerable
groups of the society; these are effective steps to prevent
the occurrence of addiction complications such as
61
The impor tance of life skills training in preventing addiction recurrence
J Health Sci Surveillance Sys April 2020; Vol 8; No 2
inappropriate social relations with family and society,
remove its negative consequences, and promote the
quality of life, especially in the relationship between
the clients and thei r families. As a result, the societ y has
witnessed a decrease in tensions and conf licts; fewer
prisoners are in prisons due to addiction, and clients
who have been traumatized by society have returned
to normal life.
Conflict of Interest: None declared.
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