The Ways in Which Methamphetamine Users and their Family Members Access Information about Treatment Options

Abstract

This research sought to identify sources of information about treatment options consulted by methamphetamine users and their family members. Data were collected using a total of nine face to face interviews with methamphetamine users, a family member of a methamphetamine user, and key experts in the field of treatment provision for problematic methamphetamine use. In addition, a search of online information about treatment options was conducted using the search engine Google as a form of triangulation, and to investigate the quantity and quality of online information. Interview data were analysed using a General Inductive approach, and data gathered from the Google search were organised into tables within which webpage content, country of origin, and other information was summarised. It emerged that methamphetamine users sought a range of information including, but not limited to treatment information; harm minimisation information and detoxification information were also sought. It appeared that ‘readiness to change’ as the term is applied in the ‘Stages of Change’ model of behaviour change may play a role in methamphetamine users’ information-seeking process, where ‘readiness’ may affect the likelihood of information-seeking, and of engaging with passively encountered information. The family member sought information about treatment options and related practicalities (duration of stay, cost, availability). Shame, fear, stigma, a lack of ‘readiness’ and failure to recognise use as problematic emerged as barriers to seeking information. A lack of funding emerged as a barrier to disseminating information. Methamphetamine users and the family member desired information to be made more readily visible and accessible, more detailed, and in forms that preserve anonymity. Some individuals desired information to contain a message of optimism regarding the possibility of recovery from methamphetamine dependence. The results also indicate that information resources currently available to methamphetamine users and family members are unsatisfactory in terms of content, level of detail, and visibility. There appears to be a need for a wider variety of detailed information resources for both methamphetamine users and family members, which take into account differing levels of literacy, different preferences for content and forms of information, and which also take into account such individuals’ need to maintain privacy.