Identification of the socio-cultural barriers of drug addiction treatment in Iran

INTRODUCTION: Socio-cultural norms can either be encouraging or a barrier to addiction treatment. More, rigorous research is needed on nonindigenous models in addiction treatment, to better understand the role of socio-cultural differences. METHODS: The present qualitative study is part of the project, “The Inclusive Assessment of the Barriers of Drug Addiction Treatment Services in Iran,” which was conducted in Tehran from 2018 to 2021. The participants consisted of eight people who used drugs, seven individual family members of the people who used drugs participants, seven service providers, and four policymakers. A purposeful sampling method was used for the selection of the participants, and the process continued until reaching the theoretical saturation of data. Analysis used the Graneheim and Lundman methods, classifying primary codes, the sub-themes, and themes were classified according to the similarities and differences between primary codes. FINDING: The most important socio-cultural barriers to addiction treatment in Iran are: unrealistic expectations of the family and society from the people who use drugs, addiction stigma, mistrust between various components of the treatment system, perceptions that professional substance use disorder treatment is inefficient and low uptake of that treatment, the disturbed relational boundaries between the people who use drugs and their relatives, the interweaving of treatment and ethical and religious principles, low acceptance of maintenance treatments, treatment focusing on short-term outcomes, and presence of facilitating backgrounds of using drugs. CONCLUSIONS: The Iranian socio-cultural characteristics play an important role in the addiction treatment of the people who use drugs, so it is necessary for treatment interventions to be sensitive to these characteristics.