Maze and minefield — a grounded theory of opiate self‐detoxification in rural Ireland

Abstract

Opiate use is no longer confined to the greater urban context in Ireland, with scant detoxification services present in rural areas (Carew et al, 2009; National Advisory Committee on Drugs, 2008). This exploratory research aimed to yield an illustrative account of opiate users' experiences of self‐detoxification by adopting a grounded theory approach (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Data emerging from 21 in‐depth interviews (n=12 heroin users, n=9 drug service providers: statutory, community and voluntary) were analysed using the constant comparative method. The study generated a substantive theory of self‐detoxification as a subjective process of seeking heroin abstinence. Self‐detoxification emerged as a frequent and reactive or proactive process in collaboration with others (heroin users, family and drug service providers). The study has implications for drug service delivery in rural Ireland in terms of increasing information provision and access to opiate detoxification through the development of low threshold services and community‐based detoxification.

Competing priorities and second chances - A qualitative exploration of prisoners’ journeys through the Hepatitis C continuum of care

“…Transcripts were imported into QSR International’s NVivo 11 software (NVivo qualitative data analysis Software 2012) for coding and thematic analysis following a grounded theory approach [32,33]. This approach was chosen because prisoners are considered a hard-to-reach population and their experiences of HCV care are poorly understood and rarely reported in the published literature [34,35].…”

Ups and downs of drug rehab among women: a qualitative study

“…Negative attitudes toward women drug users, lack of family and friends support (compared to the male ones), economic poverty, redundant bureaucracies, the focus of rehab programs on men, and the lack of specialist rehab centers for these women are among the barriers to the rehabilitation of them [11]. McDonnell (2010) showed in a study that the most important factors in finding a way for drug detoxification include the drug users' understanding of the negative effects of drug use on themselves and others, social deprivations, drugrelated stigmatization, imposed heavy costs, negative impact of drug use on the communication with others and family members, inability in doing their job and duties, lack of control over life, and the incidence of physical, mental and social illnesses which make drug users think about the problem and try to stop drug use [12].…”

Service stakeholders' perspectives on methadone maintenance treatment, Special Community Employment schemes and client recovery pathways

“…Similar to extant literature, stakeholder concerns also included the diversion of methadone onto the street (Kreek, La Forge, & Butelmann, 2002;World Health Organisation, 2004) and client attempts to selfdetoxify (McDonnell & Van Hout, 2010Van Hout & Bingham, 2011, 2012a. Given the frequency of client attempts to self-detoxify, the availability of community detoxification in the Dublin North area was viewed by participants as preferable to residential settings.…”