Individuals with dual diagnosis experience several difficulties in different parts of life and social functioning. This is why it is crucial that they are included in an integrated treatment program, where they will be able to achieve changes. Because this field is poorly researched in Slovenia, as well as abroad, I decided to research in my master thesis what kind of changes individuals go through when they are included in the therapeutic program in the Therapeutic Community Sostro for users with mental health problems. In the qualitative part of the thesis I used a client change interview to determine how users perceive their process of change through therapy. I also wanted to research which factors, external as well as internal ones, helped the users most to achieve change. I then compared these results with the results gained from the interview for clinical outcomes in routine evaluation – outcome measures (CORE-OM). The study consisted of 7 users who were included in the program for treating dual diagnoses. The results showed the current psychological state of the users, changes which the users achieved during the treatment and the internal factors which affected these changes. The detected changes refer to changes achieved in personal growth, social skills, emotions, values, symptoms and appearance. The factors that influenced these changes are: the therapeutic program, social support and personality and handling of internal difficulties. I concluded that the changes achieved by users are stable through time.
My findings show an insight in the changes users achieve during the time they are included in the therapeutic programs, therefore my master degree is meant to help therapists who perform programs of treating dual diagnoses. My findings can at the same time be used to introduce novelties and changes in the ways of working with current users and users, who are yet to be included in the treatment program at the Therapeutic community Sostro. My study also indicates the need to research the field of treating dual diagnoses even more.
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