D.U.R.E.S.S. – Drug Use Recovery, Environment and Social Subjectivity

In European Member States, use of substances is a serious issue in terms of screening, management, and correlates definition. Although the prevailing methodological attitude remains quantitative in current illicit drugs research, relevant data from clinical samples and administrative databases can just provide a rough picture of incidence and prevalence of drug use problems. At its most fundamental, the role of qualitative research into illicit drug use can therefore be envisaged as a means of understanding the lived experiences and meanings of drug use from the perspectives of drug users themselves, distinguishing how drug use patterns differ by social, cultural and economic context. The project plans to build a core, and, if any, a country-level characterization of the role of social environment in pathways to recovery and socioeconomic reintegration, using original and mostly unexplored sources. In particular, the project will address key gaps in the extant research knowledge exploring by content/ thematic analyses the role of social environment in pathways to recovery and socioeconomic reintegration.

1. Meeting with staff of Drug and Alcohol Clinical Services for the access to the target, identification of samples of drug users, categorization of samples through the Addiction Severity Index, identification of relevant stakeholders to be involved in interviews and in dissemination 2. Definition of diaries structures, running of preliminary meetings with enrolled drug users to clarify the Qualitative Diaries methodologies, individual qualitative health diaries self-administration, finalization and quality check of planned health diaries 3. Contacts with drug users to be involved in focus groups, running 1 focus groups per country with 8/9 participants each, finalization of focus groups reports including observational notes, realization of in depth interviews with stakeholders 4. Systematization and analysis of individual qualitative health diaries data, systematization and analysis of inputs from focus groups reports, systematization and analysis of inputs from in-depth interviews 5. Internal evaluation, external evaluation, external and internal risk analysis 6. Ex-post project sustainability evaluation 7. Project Results publication and dissemination

The aims of our project will be exploratory in nature, addressing key gaps in the existing research knowledge about importance of the social environment in pathways to recovery and socioeconomic reintegration among people who misuse drugs. This will be first explored conducting a systematic review on the role of surrounding environment in pathways to recovery and social reintegration. Following activities will be thus better framed also in order to identify potential themes to be studied in qualitative research activities. As a matter of fact, with a view of increasing validity by triangulating different methods and sources, a series of qualitative experiments will be run exploring by content/ thematic analyses the role of social environment in pathways to recovery and socioeconomic reintegration.