Research project The position of the service user in substance abuse treatment
Highligths the importance of service user involvement for service users and staff, promoting and hindering factors for realizing user involvement in practice, and it provides enhanced possibilities for an effective and democratic addiction treatment system.
The aim of the study is to analyze the extent to which service users receiving addiction or dependence care in the municipal social services and the regional health care system can influence the choice of intervention and the course of treatment in their own case.
Analyses include both the service users’ and their professional care givers’ perspective on the process. The relationship between user involvement, treatment satisfaction, retention and outcome of the care is analyzed, as well as potential differences between various user groups and care providers.
Project description
Increased service user involvement in addiction treatment is currently emphasized in public debate. Initiatives have primarily focused on involvement on the collective level. It remains unclear if and how individual service users can influence the character and content of the care they are offered.
The study uses a qualitative study design to obtain a deeper understanding of the decision process, the character of service user involvement in practice, and the outcome of such involvement. Pairs of 36 service users (with varying levels of problems and demographics) and their 23 care givers (doctors, social workers, and nurses) within two units in the social services and two in the health care system were individually interviewed 2013-2015. Follow-up interview were conducted with 28 service users and their staff after three months to track the process and the outcomes of the service user.
Implications: The project provides increased knowledge on the importance of service user involvement for service users and staff, promoting and hindering factors for realizing user involvement in practice, and it provides enhanced possibilities for an effective and democratic addiction treatment system.
Project members
Project managers
Jessica Storbjörk
Associate professor
Members
Jan Blomqvist
Irja Christophs
Eva Samuelsson
Senior lecturer, associate professor
More about this project
Selected publications and documentation:
Storbjörk, Jessica, Christophs, Irja, Samuelsson, Eva, Milander Yazdanpanah, Sarah (2016). A study of service user involvement in practice in the Swedish substance abuse treatment system: Methods, participants, and outcomes. SoRAD report 69. Stockholm: Stockholm University, Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs. Full text: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-133815
Storbjörk, Jessica (2017). Commentary on Witkiewitz et al (2017): Abstinence or moderation – a choice for whom and why? Addiction, 112(12), 2122-2123 (DOI:10.1111/add.14042).
Storbjörk, Jessica & Samuelsson, Eva (2018). Brukarinflytande på vårdmarknaden – en paradox i missbruks- och beroendevården? [User involvement on the care market – a paradox in addiction treatment?]. I Marie Sallnäs & Stefan Wiklund (red.), Socialtjänstmarknaden – om marknadsorientering och konkurrensutsättning inom individ- och familjeomsorgen [The social services market – on marketization and competition], pp. 85-115. Stockholm: Liber.