Abstract
PURPOSE
To detect the areas of most need for care and the prevalence of the nursing diagnoses in methadone maintenance programs.
METHODS
The study was carried out with a sample of 131 subjects (average age 33 years) included in a methadone maintenance program. There was a predominance of males (76%). A high percentage (72%) were disabled or unemployed.
The evaluation was done by students in an alcohol and drug dependency nursing course at the School of Nursing of the University of Barcelona, trained and supervised by nurses from the clinical area. Assessments took place in methadone maintenance program units. The Sociodemographic and Assessments of Needs Questionnaire was developed to collect data. NANDA's Taxonomy was used to determine nursing diagoses.
FINDINGS
Rest and Sleep were the areas that demonstrated the greatest need. Eleven diagnostic labels covered 75% of cases. The six most frequent diagnoses were sleep pattern disturbance, altered nutrition: less than body requirements, constipation, self-care deficit, altered role performance, and self-esteem disturbance.
CONCLUSIONS
Results obtained in the assessment of needs agreed with NANDA's nursing diagnoses and with the proposed “Standards of Addictions Nursing Practice with Selected Diagnoses and Criteria” by the American Nurses Association, the Drug and Alcohol Nursing Association, and the National Nursing Society on Addictions. Based on the results of this study, we are working to validate the Nursing Intervention Program using NIC for the six prevalent nursing diagnoses identified in patients in the methadone maintenance program.
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