Abstract:
From the year 1999, there has been increasing alcohol abuse in Kenya with associate adverse consequences. As a result of this,
there has been an increase in the establishment of treatment and rehabilitation services and demand for the same to assist abusers
in recovery and avoid relapse. However, despite the availability and demand of these services, there has been also a simultaneous
increase in the relapse cases. This casts doubt on the effectiveness of the existing treatment and rehabilitation services in meeting
the ever-increasing number of cases admitted. This study sought to assess the effectiveness of treatment and rehabilitation
services in addressing alcohol relapse in selected centres in Nairobi, Kenya. The study adopted an ex post facto causal
comparative research design. The target population was all the relapse cases in the 14 rehabilitation centres registered by
NACADA in Nairobi. A random sample of 109 alcoholics and 8 counselors drawn from 4 purposively selected rehabilitation
centers were involved in the study. Data was collected through the administration of two sets of self-structured questionnaires to
the selected respondents. The questionnaires were piloted to validate and test its reliability before the actual data collection. The
data were then processed and analysed using descriptive statistics including frequencies and percentages with the aid of
Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 15.0 for Windows. The results of study have shown that relapse was
influenced by the interaction of past-risks within the individual and environmental situations and level of preparedness to cope
with these past-risks to resist drinking. These findings may benefit NACADA, Ministry of public health, mental health agencies,
psychologists, counselors, Non-Governmental Organizations, policy makers, researchers, drug abusers and families of alcoholics.
The study recommends there is need to restructure treatment and rehabilitation services and programs in order to effectively
address the increasing alcohol abuse menace and associated relapse.
