González-Menéndez, Fernández, Rodríguez, and Villagrá (2013) studied the effects of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on 37 female inmates were incarcerated for a drug-related crime; participants were not abstinent from substances at the beginning of the study. Participants were randomly assigned to ACT or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and data was collected for two years (González-Menéndez, 2013). The purpose of the study was to determine the long-term efficacy of ACT on drug abuse in incarcerated females. The Addiction Severity Index (ASI) and multi drug urinalysis were used to determine severity of substance use as well as sobriety and relapse (González-Menéndez, 2013). Results from the study indicate that ACT and CBT were equally
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Lack of demographic information heavily limits the results of the study as well as limits the cultural relevance of the study. Future studies should seek to enhance cultural diversity by collecting demographic information and seeking to provide data which is representative of multiple cultural groups. A second cultural consideration of the study is the location, a prison in Spain. Spain has decriminalized drugs and thus policies, both in prison and in the country, could impact views on treatment and recovery from substance use, which could impact the results of the study (Vastag, …show more content…
(2014) controlled for more demographic information than González-Menéndez (2013), however, they did not control for the cultural characteristics such as: socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and race. Lack of cultural consideration muddles the ability to generalize the results of the study and should be addressed in future research. Another limitation of the study is the sample size. In total, 18 participants were assigned to ACT, 19 to CBT, and 13 to a control group. The low sample size and the difference between the treatment and control groups limits the ability of the results to be generalized to other populations. One last limitation is the location of the study, Spain. As discussed earlier, Spain has different drug policy and societal expectations about substance use and these difference limits the ability to generalize the results to populations in the United
Lack of demographic information heavily limits the results of the study as well as limits the cultural relevance of the study. Future studies should seek to enhance cultural diversity by collecting demographic information and seeking to provide data which is representative of multiple cultural groups. A second cultural consideration of the study is the location, a prison in Spain. Spain has decriminalized drugs and thus policies, both in prison and in the country, could impact views on treatment and recovery from substance use, which could impact the results of the study (Vastag, …show more content…
(2014) controlled for more demographic information than González-Menéndez (2013), however, they did not control for the cultural characteristics such as: socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and race. Lack of cultural consideration muddles the ability to generalize the results of the study and should be addressed in future research. Another limitation of the study is the sample size. In total, 18 participants were assigned to ACT, 19 to CBT, and 13 to a control group. The low sample size and the difference between the treatment and control groups limits the ability of the results to be generalized to other populations. One last limitation is the location of the study, Spain. As discussed earlier, Spain has different drug policy and societal expectations about substance use and these difference limits the ability to generalize the results to populations in the United