Recovery from substance use: Drug-dependent people’s experiences with sources that motivate them to change

Abstract

Recovery from drug abuse is a complex process in which motivation is central. The focus of this article is on drug-dependent people's experiences with sources that influence their motivation to change. The sample in our study was comprised of 127 drug-dependent adults identified in criminal courts, hospital emergency departments and Health and Social Services Centres in Quebec (Canada). Two-third of the sample consisted of men of 38 years old on average. Semi-structured interviews and thematic content analyses were conducted. The results from the participants’ point of view regarding their recovery experience indicate that certain sources of influence may help increase or maintain motivation. These sources can be personal or service-related. Caseworkers may help increase or maintain drug-dependent people’s motivation for change by being humble, patient and empathetic, and by making efforts to collaborate with other caseworkers in various services, at every step, including detection and referral, of the service trajectory.

• Addiction
• Canada
• motivation
• qualitative research
• recovery

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Notes

¹In Quebec (Canada), a CLSC is a public body providing primary health care (medical and psychosocial).

²Montreal is the second most populated region in Canada. In 2011, there were approximately 1,649,515 Montrealers.

³Mauricie–Centre-du-Québec covers a large territory in the middle north and south of Quebec. There are approximately 478,500 inhabitants in this region.

⁴Negative influences on motivation are addressed in another publication (Brunelle et al., 2014).