Motivation and expectations in treatment search for abusive use and addiction of crack, alcohol and other drugs.

Abstract

This research was conducted in a Psychosocial Care Center for Alcohol and Drugs and intended to analyze under which circumstances users seek the service, as well as the motivations and expectations that are involved in this process, and foster compliance to the treatment. It is an exploratory, descriptive, and qualitative investigation that involved a bibliographical and documentary study and 10 interviews with users of the service, which were submitted to Content Analysis. The results point out that families have a strong influence on motivation, both in the search for the serviced and in the compliance with the treatment. Other motivations are fragile health, violence experienced in the daily lives of users, and a wish for change. The expectations are related to their desire to quit using drugs and to (re)build their ties with their families and work. Specialized services are concluded to be required to extend their strategies to insert families and the community in the care, aiming at strengthening the care process. Investments in their skills, autonomy, and protagonism should also be developed to meet the expectations of users to rebuild their life stories.