Street drugs, alcohol and mental health – what helps?

Holland, MA 2009, Street drugs, alcohol and mental health – what helps? , PhD thesis, University of Salford.

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Abstract

The use of street drugs and / or alcohol combined with mental health problems is referred to as dual diagnosis within mental health and substance misuse services. The aim of this research study was two-fold. Firstly, to discover what people considered helpful in terms of support or intervention that could then be developed into information materials. And secondly, to develop an explanatory theory that added to the subjects’ wider understanding. A grounded theory methodology was employed to elicit the personal experiences of participants which in turn would ensure that the production of information materials and the development of theory remain rooted in the data. Twenty-six unstructured conversational interviews and 9 focus groups were conducted. Two carers, 6 practitioners and 18 service users were interviewed. The focus group participants were all service users, just under half of whom participated in interviews also, the remainder were new to the study; all took place in mental health and substance misuse treatment settings. In total 41 people, 34 of whom were service users, participated. Including repeat participants, 51 separate voices or contributions were made. Data incidents and happenings (n = 977) were analysed using open, axial and selective coding procedures overlaid by constant comparison. Twelve categories sharing properties and dimensions relating to helpful advice, intervention or behaviour emerged. The theme of helpfulness was a key concept and emerged as the major category subsequently entitled Help. The theory related to help developed. It challenged dual diagnosis convention by identifying people with a dual diagnosis as positively seeking, for themselves or others, recovery or alleviation of substance or mental health related problems. They did this from within a harm reduction or damage limitation paradigm. The examples of help related incidents (from which the help theory emerged) were collated and formed the content of dual diagnosis information materials.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Contributors:	Mitchell, D (Supervisor) and Williamson, T (Supervisor)
Themes:	Health and Wellbeing
Schools:	Schools > School of Health and Society
Depositing User:	Users 29196 not found.
Date Deposited:	11 Nov 2011 15:23
Last Modified:	27 Aug 2021 20:01
URI:	https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/18988

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