Social service offices as a point of entry into substance abuse treatment for poor South Africans

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dc.contributor.authorBurnhams, Nadineen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorDada, Siphokazien_ZA
dc.contributor.authorMyers, Bronwynen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-10-30T09:35:51Z
dc.date.available2015-10-30T09:35:51Z
dc.date.issued2012en_ZA
dc.description.abstractBACKGROUND:In South Africa, district social service offices are often the first point of entry into the substance abuse treatment system. Despite this, little is known about the profile of people presenting with substance-related problems at these service points. This has a negative impact on treatment service planning. This paper begins to redress this gap through describing patterns of substance use and service needs among people using general social services in the Western Cape and comparing findings against the profile of persons attending specialist substance abuse treatment facilities in the region. METHODS: As part of a standard client information system, an electronic questionnaire was completed for each person seeking social assistance. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, the range of presenting problems, patterns of substance use, perceived consequences of substance use, as well as types of services provided were analysed for the 691 social welfare clients who reported substance use between 2007 and 2009. These data were compared against clients attending substance abuse treatment centres during the same time period. RESULTS: Findings indicate that social services offices are used as a way of accessing specialist services but are also used as a service point, especially by groups under-represented in the specialist treatment sector. Women, people from rural communities and people with alcohol-related problems are more likely to seek assistance at social service offices providing low threshold intervention services than from the specialist treatment sector. CONCLUSIONS: The study provides evidence that social services are a point of entry and intervention for people from underserved communities in the Western Cape. If these low-threshold services can be supported to provide good quality services, they may be an effective and efficient way of improving access to treatment in a context of limited service availability.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationBurnhams, N., Dada, S., & Myers, B. (2012). Social service offices as a point of entry into substance abuse treatment for poor South Africans. <i>Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy</i>, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14537en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationBurnhams, Nadine, Siphokazi Dada, and Bronwyn Myers "Social service offices as a point of entry into substance abuse treatment for poor South Africans." <i>Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy</i> (2012) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14537en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationBurnhams, N. H., Dada, S., & Myers, B. (2012). Social service offices as a point of entry into substance abuse treatment for poor South Africans. Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy, 7, 22.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - Burnhams, Nadine AU - Dada, Siphokazi AU - Myers, Bronwyn AB - BACKGROUND:In South Africa, district social service offices are often the first point of entry into the substance abuse treatment system. Despite this, little is known about the profile of people presenting with substance-related problems at these service points. This has a negative impact on treatment service planning. This paper begins to redress this gap through describing patterns of substance use and service needs among people using general social services in the Western Cape and comparing findings against the profile of persons attending specialist substance abuse treatment facilities in the region. METHODS: As part of a standard client information system, an electronic questionnaire was completed for each person seeking social assistance. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, the range of presenting problems, patterns of substance use, perceived consequences of substance use, as well as types of services provided were analysed for the 691 social welfare clients who reported substance use between 2007 and 2009. These data were compared against clients attending substance abuse treatment centres during the same time period. RESULTS: Findings indicate that social services offices are used as a way of accessing specialist services but are also used as a service point, especially by groups under-represented in the specialist treatment sector. Women, people from rural communities and people with alcohol-related problems are more likely to seek assistance at social service offices providing low threshold intervention services than from the specialist treatment sector. CONCLUSIONS: The study provides evidence that social services are a point of entry and intervention for people from underserved communities in the Western Cape. If these low-threshold services can be supported to provide good quality services, they may be an effective and efficient way of improving access to treatment in a context of limited service availability. DA - 2012 DB - OpenUCT DO - 10.1186/1747-597X-7-22 DP - University of Cape Town J1 - Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2012 T1 - Social service offices as a point of entry into substance abuse treatment for poor South Africans TI - Social service offices as a point of entry into substance abuse treatment for poor South Africans UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14537 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/14537
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1747-597X-7-22
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationBurnhams N, Dada S, Myers B. Social service offices as a point of entry into substance abuse treatment for poor South Africans. Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy. 2012; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14537.en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisherBiomed Central Ltden_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Psychiatry and Mental Healthen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Health Sciencesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.rightsThis is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licenseen_ZA
dc.rights.holder2012 Harker Burnhams et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltden_ZA
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0en_ZA
dc.sourceSubstance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policyen_ZA
dc.source.urihttp://substanceabusepolicy.biomedcentral.com/en_ZA
dc.subject.otherSubstance Abuse Treatmenten_ZA
dc.subject.otherEpidemiologyen_ZA
dc.subject.otherSouth Africaen_ZA
dc.subject.otherSocial Work, Psychiatricen_ZA
dc.titleSocial service offices as a point of entry into substance abuse treatment for poor South Africansen_ZA
dc.typeJournal Articleen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceArticleen_ZA
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