Studies on the process of change in addictive behaviors address self-efficacy for abstinence and temptation to use drugs as central aspects. This study conducted a systematic review of scientific literature about abstinence self-efficacy (AE) and temptation to use illegal drugs. At the databases PubMed, PsychInfo and LILACS the terms abstinence, self-efficacy, temptation and scale were used in the search process for publications that related the descriptors to illicit drugs. Of the 13 selected articles, five used the same instrument, three adapted measures used to assess other behaviors, and the remaining five used different scales. Most of these tools presented risk situations to be answered according to the abstinence self-efficacy or temptation to use drugs in general, with no distinction among substances.
literature review; self-efficacy; street drugs
