2018 Report

Proyecto Hombre Observatory on the profile of
people with
addiction
problems under
treatment

Sponsored by:

Ministerio de sanidad. Casilla de otros fines de interés social Delegación del gobierno para el plan nacional sobre drogas

letter from the president

“As professionals who dedicate ourselves to accompanying people with addiction problems in change processes that must be carried out, we know that we must really pay attention to what is happening in society, to how the environments and circumstances are changing, as well as the profiles of users who come knocking on our door”.

read more

definition of the observatory and techniques

To analyse and identify the psychological, epidemiological and sociodemographic characteristics of people with addiction problems attended to in the Proyecto Hombre Centres throughout Spain.

  • Public entities and policy makers
  • Media
  • Scientific community and academic sphere
  • Proyecto Hombre Association and Centres
  • Other entities and organisations working in the sector

The information in the Observatory comes from the internal database of Proyecto Hombre (PHNemos application), which collects information related to the people attended to in the treatment programmes and which at the same time collects data obtained in the systematic and periodic application of the survey named EuropASI.

The EuropASI of admission establishes its administration to people older than 18 years of age. Therefore, the universe of study is made up of users of Proyecto Hombre, of this age or older than 18 years, who have begun treatment in 2018 in programmes and units for adults with addiction problems in the 27 Centres of this association.

This restriction is due both to the application requirements of EuropASI itself, as well as to the inclusion of remarks to the characteristics of the people who enter annually (thus excluding those who continue to be treated from year to year).

All this implies a universe of more than 15,000 new users since 2013.

  • Belén Aragonés
  • Xavier Bonet
  • Ramón Capellas
  • Ángeles Fernández
  • Jesús García
  • Fernando González
  • Jesús Mullor
  • Elena Presencio

Bobes J., González M.P., Sáiz P.A. y Bousoño M. (1995) Índice europeo de la severidad de la adicción: EuropASI. Versión española. Gijón, Actas de la IV Reunión Interregional de Psiquiatría, 201-218.

McLellan, A.T., Luborsky, L., O’Brien, C.P. y Woody, G.E.. (1980) An improved evaluation instrument for substance abuse patients: the Addiction Severity Index. Journal of Nervous Mental Disorders, 168,26-33.

read more

data analysis

I. Gender

Sexo
  • 14,6% of users are women and 85.4% men.
  • The gender ratio is stable with respect to previous years.

II. Age of people at the start of treatment

Sexo

III. Type of cohabitation

Sexo
  • The type of cohabitation of users of Proyecto Hombre is heterogeneous.
  • Living together with partner and children represents the highest percentage (23%), with parents (22.7%), only with partner (18%) or alone (15%). The smallest group corresponds to those living with friends (1.3%).

IV. Labour situation (Usual employment pattern over the last 3 years)

Sexo
  • The usual labour situation in the last 3 years before admission varies a great deal. People who have been working represent the majority (76.4%), of whom most were wroking full-time.
  • The second-highest percentage corresponds to those who were unemployed or were only emplloyed to do hosuework (13.6%).
m

V. Main substance of use

Sexo
  • If alcohol is considered as a whole (in large quantities or in any dose, as well as associated to other substances), it represents the most-used principle substance.
  • The second main substance for which treatment is demanded is still cocaine, with 34.9%.
  • Cannabis is the third most popular main substance of use among the the people attended to in Proyecto Hombre, with 8.9%.
  • The aforementioned substances make up for 81%. With regard to the remaining 19%, 8.2% do not show a main substance, as they use more than one substance, excluding the consumption of alcohol below the threshold (any dose).
  • Admissions which identify heroin as the main substance of use still represent a reduced percentage: 3% in 2018.
read more

general data by Autonomous Community

general conclusions

Women under treatment in 2018 accounted for 14.6% of people attended to, compared to 85.4% of men.

The average age is 38 years (with an interval ranging from 18 to 71 years). The largest age group in the sample is that of 36 to 40 years, representing 23.5%. 14.3% are under 30 years of age, while 12.4% are older than 50 years.

Health problems, whether they are added, parallel to or directly derived from the addition itself, present a high prevalence among the people attended to in Proyecto Hombre: 32.4% show chronic medical problems of a physical nature than interfere with their daily lives.

Addiction problems reach all academic levels, as proven by 38.9% of people who have completed secondary education and 9% with university studies.

A 76.4% of people who attend treatment were working most of the time over the last three years. Of those, 60.6% working full-time. However, this situation changes radically when it is limited to the moment before admission, as only a 41.5% had their main source of income thanks to employment.

Throughout life, almost 90% of the people attended to show regular and/or problematic consumption of alcohol.

Dealing exclusively with the main substance of use, the highest demand for treatment corresponds to alcohol as a whole (alone or associated with other substances) with 37.3%; followed by cocaine with 34.9%. And lastly, cannabis, with 8.9%./p>

In terms of gender, the greatest differences are with respect to cocaine (where the prevalence among men is 15% higher than among women) and in alcohol (with an impact among women 12% higher than that among men)

Alcohol is the substance with the earliest onset and the latest start of treatment.

The marital status of the majority of those who start treatment in Proyecto Hombre corresponds to single, separated, divorced or widowed (80.5% among men and 85.4% among women), compared with 19.5% of men and 14.6% women who are married.

The largest difference detected in gender is in single-parent families, representing 13% of women with children compared to 1% of men

A high comorbidity of addiction and other psychological and emotional disorders is proven among people who attend treatment. More than half take psychiatric medicine, up to 67.2% have suffered severe anxiety, 54.7% severe depression and almost 40% have had suicidal thoughts

read more