The lived experiences of becoming a homeless person with addiction in Tehran: how they are withdrawn from the mainstream community?

ABSTRACT

Understanding the experiences of street addicted people can help clarify the process of engaging people with this social problem. This study aims to discover the challenges of drug-dependent street people by exploring their lived experiences. This study was conducted using content analysis of qualitative interviews with 22 street recruited from within compulsory drug treatment centers in Tehran. Participants were selected through purposive sampling and their experiences of homelessness and addiction were collected through a semi-structured interview. After analyzing the data, three categories and eight sub-categories were determined. The main categories included instability, social distrust, and economic vulnerability. Instability includes experiences such as rejection from their home, street attraction, and avoiding returning home. The social distrust theme consists of experiencing the stigma related to addiction and high-risk behaviors. The economic vulnerability encompasses gradual capital loss and weakening their work status in the context of a weak economic foundation. Dependent drug use added to those isolating experiences leads to weakened family ties, and social and economic interactions and finally results in being disconnected completely from the community mainstream.

KEYWORDS:

• Addiction
• homeless
• Tehran
• substance abuse
• content analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Hassan Rafiey is a main researcher in the field of substance abuse prevention in Iran. He is a head of social welfare management department in the university of social welfare and rehabilitation sciences.

Fardin Alipour is an assistant professor at the department of social work. His main interest in the substance abuse field focuses on qualitative research and community based prevention.

Amir Moghanibashi-Mansourieh is a Ph.D. student in social work.

Mostafa Mardani is a Ph.D student in social work.

ORCID

Fardin Alipour http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1091-4100

Amir Moghanibashi-Mansourieh http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2417-8914