Background: Over the last decade, methamphetamine has become a drug of choice for Thai youths. There were 19,253 people with substance use disorders treated at the legal treatment center in 2000. The number one drug used was methamphetamine (46.27%). Adolescents often turn to methamphetamine use because of factors such as peer influence, psychological issues, environmental distractions, culture, as well as their own problems. Few studies have been conducted to investigate the factors or predictors that lead to treatment completion. In particular, measuring the stages of change, treatment motivation, and abstinence self-efficacy among adolescents and the relationship of treatment completion have not been studied in Thailand. Methodology: A one group pretest-posttest design will be conducted on Thai adolescents with methamphetamine use disorders. One hundred and fifty Thai adolescents, between 12 to 21 years of age, who are seeking treatment at the Drug Treatment Center in Thailand will be interviewed by utilizing questionnaires for assessing stage of change, treatment motivation, and self-efficacy for abstinence at the time of admission and at the time of discharge from the treatment program. Each of these instruments has been developed with content that reflects the special characteristics of methamphetamine users, within the guiding framework provided by the Transtheoretical Model of Behavioral Change. Conclusion and Implication for nursing: The results of this study will be useful for nurses and other health care providers because it will allow staff to better assess the stage of change and treatment motivation of their clients, as well as the self-efficacy for abstinence before and during the drug treatment program. Moreover, the results from the study could be used to help staff identify interventions that will promote movement toward the higher stage or positive behavior changes. The results could also be used to tailor the treatment to increase self-efficacy for maintaining abstinence.
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