Comparing Reasons for Quitting Substance Abuse with the Constructs of Behavioral Models: A Qualitative Study

• Hauptverfasser: Hamid Tavakoli Ghouchani (VerfasserIn), Shamsodin Niknami* (VerfasserIn), Farkhondeh Aminshokravi (VerfasserIn), Seyed Kaveh Hojat (VerfasserIn)
• Format: Buch
• Veröffentlicht: Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, 2015-03-01T00:00:00Z.
• Schlagworte: article
• Online-Zugang: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 10.20286/jech-010422; 2383-2312; 2383-2312
• Keywords: Taking Action; Stop Addiction; Construct; Qualitative Study; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270
• Source: Journal of Education and Community Health, Vol 1, Iss 4, Pp 22-31 (2015)

Background and Objectives: The world population has reached over seven billion people. Of these, 230 million individuals abuse substances. Therefore, substance abuse prevention and treatment programs have received increasing attention during the past two decades. Understanding people's motivations for quitting drug abuse is essential to the success of treatment. This study hence sought to identify major motivations for quitting and to compare them with the constructs of health education models. Materials and Methods: In the present study, qualitative content analysis was used to determine the main motivations for quitting substance abuse. Overall, 22 patients, physicians, and psychotherapists were selected from several addiction treatment clinics in Bojnord (Iran) during 2014. Purposeful sampling method was applied and continued until data saturation was achieved. Data were collected through semi-structured, face-to-face interviews and field notes. All interviews were recorded and transcribed. Results: Content analysis revealed 33 sub-categories and nine categories including economic problems, drug-related concerns, individual problems, family and social problems, family expectations, attention to social status, beliefs about drug addiction, and valuing the quitting behavior. Accordingly, four themes, i.e. perceived threat, perceived barriers, attitude toward the behavior, and subjective norms, were extracted. Conclusion: Reasons for quitting substance abuse match the constructs of different behavioral models (e.g. the health belief model and the theory of planned behavior).