Browsing by Author "Kamaloodien, Kamal"
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Item A qualitative study of referring agents’ perceptions of access barriers to inpatient substance abuse treatment centres in the Western Cape(BioMed Central, 2015) Isobell, Deborah; Kamaloodien, Kamal; Savahl, ShazlyBackground: Despite empirical support for the individual and public health benefits of treating substance use disorders (SUDs) , access to these services is impeded by several barriers. Although many studies on access barriers have been put forward in the literature, few have explored the barriers to accessing state-funded inpatient substance abuse treatment or the views of referral agents. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted to explore referring agents’ perceptions of the barriers to accessing state-funded inpatient substance abuse treatment centres in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Six individual in-depth interviews were conducted and analysed using theoretical thematic analysis. Results: The key barriers to emerge from the analysis pertained to referring agents’ perceptions of the following: service users, the substance abuse referral and treatment system and community dynamics. Conclusions: Recommendations are made for interventions to address the identified barriers.Item Referring agents’ perceptions of access barriers to inpatient substance abuse treatment centres in the Western Cape(Universty of the Western Cape, 2013) Isobell, Deborah Louise; Kamaloodien, KamalHigh rates of substance use and its associated problems afflict Cape Town, underscoring the need for easily accessible substance abuse treatment. Despite the substantial benefits for both individuals and society at large that substance abuse treatment confers, substance abusers often first have to negotiate considerable challenges in order to access treatment and accumulate these gains. That is, experiencing barriers to accessing treatment, together with the presence of socio-demographic features, rather than “need for treatment”, decides who accesses treatment. Referrals are the gateway to inpatient substance abuse treatment in the Western Cape. While several barriers to accessing treatment have been identified by prior studies, none examine these phenomena from the point of view of the agents responsible for referring substance users for treatment. Moreover, access barriers to inpatient substance abuse services are a neglected area in extant literature. To address this gap, this study explored the perceptions of referring agents‟ of the barriers to accessing state-funded inpatient substance abuse treatment centres in the Western Cape. This enabled the researcher to compare existing access barriers to treatment as identified by prior research, to those elucidated in the study. Bronfenbrenner‟s Process-Person-Context-Time model was employed as the basis for understanding identified barriers.