Loneliness and Substance Misuse
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The relationship between loneliness and substance misuse recovery: a longitudinal study
IRAS ID
300494
Contact name
Lorna Hogg
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Oxford
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 2 months, 18 days
Research summary
Research Summary
Social network is defined as the amount of people that someone might have contact with on a regular basis. Having a supportive social network has been shown to be very helpful in supporting people recover from substance misuse, and ensuring a substance user has supportive social networks is often part of treatment. However, although a person might have a large social network, it is possible that they may still feel lonely if they are not satisfied with the relationships they have with the people in their network. It is possible that loneliness may stop people recovering from substance misuse if this is not addressed within treatment. The current study will therefore explore the role of loneliness in people receiving treatment for addiction to opiates (such as heroin). The study aims to answer the following questions:\n\n• Does loneliness predict a change in substance use over a 6-month period?
Are levels of loneliness associated with the amount of substances used?
Who are the most important people in a person’s social network who can support them in recovering from substance misuse?Summary of Results
Opiate use is a serious problem in the UK, and is associated with a number of negative outcomes. It is important to understand what factors predict substance misuse, so that these can be addressed in treatment. Research has demonstrated that people with larger social networks and more frequent social contacts are more likely to recover from substance misuse difficulties. However, whilst some substance users benefit from social network interventions, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, other studies have shown that social network interventions do not have a significant effect on recovery for opiate users. It is important to distinguish between social network, which is the social contacts in one’s life, and loneliness, which is the feeling that one’s social network is deficient in some way. It is possible to have a large social network but still feel lonely, and vice versa. It is possible that opiate users may be particularly vulnerable to feelings of loneliness when they are in recovery, as they are experience a period of change where their social networks are changing. The study therefore aims to understand whether there is a link between loneliness and substance misuse in a sample of opiate users, whilst also accounting for social network and other variables that influence substance use.
178 people who were receiving treatment for opiate addiction in an NHS substance misuse service took part in the research. Participants completed questionnaires about their substance use, loneliness, social network size, depression and anxiety. 122 participants also completed the same questionnaire about their substance use six months later. We also measured the number of times participants visited the service over a six month period, to determine whether this influenced substance use. Participants also indicated what social relationships were most important in their recovery from a list of common social relationships.
Results demonstrated that loneliness did not predict substance use at baseline or at six months, and the only other factor that predicted substance use at six months was baseline substance use. There was a significant relationship between loneliness and social network size within this sample. Immediate family members, such as parents, children and siblings, were the most common relationships that were important in service users’ recovery, although 9.7% participants did not have an important relationship with anyone in their life.
There are a number of possible explanations for our findings that neither loneliness or social network size predicted substance use. Our findings may reflect the differences in presentation in opiate users compared to other types of substance users, such as people who primarily misuse alcohol, and it may therefore be that opiate users have different treatment needs. It is also possible that loneliness and social network size also change over time as people recover from substance use, which would not have been captured in this study as loneliness and social network size were only measured at one time point.
There were also 35% participants that dropped out of the research, and many of these participants had also dropped out of treatment. These participants used higher amounts of substances at baseline. This finding demonstrates the importance of short and meaningful interventions to participants whilst they are engaged in treatment, and making each contact count. Finally, whilst social network and loneliness have different definitions, our findings demonstrated a strong link between social network and loneliness. This could suggest that for service users who would benefit from social network interventions, these interventions may also alleviate loneliness, improving the overall wellbeing of participants.
Our findings that there is no individual variable that predicts substance use highlights the importance of a person-centred approach to treatment. It is imperative that clinicians take the time to build a tailored, individualised treatment plan for each service user so that they have the best possible chance of recovery.REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 1
REC reference
22/NS/0023
Date of REC Opinion
25 Feb 2022
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion