Research view
Title: | Help-seeking patterns in an Egyptian sample of substance use disorder patients |
Author: | Nivert Zaki, Marwa Soltan, Reem E.S. Hashem, Mohamed Elwasify, Mahmoud Elwasify and Jehan Elturky |
Abstract: |
Background
Substance use disorder is a major problem worldwide. The increased number of
addicts is not matched by an equal effort to increase awareness of the available
services provided to them in their community. Patterns of seeking help and sources of
advice and referral to specialized and professional help are not clear and quiet related
to the cultural and demographical environment, something that had never been
properly investigated in the Egyptian community.
Aim
This study explored the most frequent patterns of help-seeking behaviors among
patients with substance use disorders and the referral sources to professional
services.
Participants and methods
This cross-sectional, questionnaire-based observational study was conducted among
40 patients aged above 18 years who were diagnosed with substance use disorder
according to DSM-IV and who presented at the substance treatment program with
male residential and outpatient services at the Institute of Psychiatry of Ain Shams
University Hospitals over a period of 6 months. Exclusion criteria were limited mental
competency, intoxication, or the inability to provide informed written consent. The data
were gathered using Fahmy and El-Sherbini’s Social Classification Scale, Addiction
Severity Index, and a Researcher-Designed Questionnaire and were analyzed using
SPSS software.
Results
The primarily abused drug was tramadol, a seen in 70% of the sample, followed by
heroin in 20% and other substances including alcohol in 12.5%. Family was the most
frequent source of referral to professional help among cases attending the clinic, and
emergency services was the least common. The mean severity profile scores
measuring problems and functional impairment using Addiction Severity Index were
higher in the ‘employment’ domain (0.66± 0.32), whereas legal (0.00± 0.00), alcohol
(0.01 ±0.07), and psychiatry (0.01 ± 0.06) domains had lower scores. Our study
concluded that patients who presented late for help (41 year) were mostly divorced,
living in slum areas, and were middle class. We also found that they first approached
their friends for consultation, and source of referral was emergency room or friends
with the same problem.
Conclusion
Help-seeking through family was the most common pattern in our study.
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Journal: | Middle East Current Psychiatry 2016, 23:147–152 |
Text: | |
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