Experience of Addiction Care Access for Youths: A Qualitative Study

Silva van der Meer, Carmem Anneke da (2025) Experience of Addiction Care Access for Youths: A Qualitative Study. Master thesis, Psychology.

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Abstract

Youths who enter addiction care are often already heavily addicted, suggesting that they delay seeking care. There is limited research done on what barriers and facilitating factors youths encounter when they seek care for their addiction. Research on this subject generally focuses on the experiences of caregivers or care providers of these youths, resulting in a knowledge gap regarding youths' own experiences. This qualitative study aimed to shed light on the barriers and facilitating factors that youth experienced in the process of seeking addiction care. Nineteen semistructured interviews with Dutch youth who were in treatment for addiction problems were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, with which four distinct themes were constructed. The four themes outlined that (1) youths had a limited understanding of addiction and care, (2) youths were provided care that did not fit due to feeling unheard prior to achieving addiction care, (3) social support was critical for youths to enter and maintain care, and (4) tailored care, such as providing at home visits, facilitates youths perception of the acceptability to care and increases the engagement to care. Using Levesque and colleagues’ (2013) model of access, the two most important dimensions are the ability to perceive and the ability to engage. These findings underscore the importance of improving health literacy among youths, their caregivers, and professionals outside the addiction care field. This is necessary as it improves access in a way that meets the youth where they are and better supports youths with substance use disorders who seek care. Based on the findings, recommendations were provided to enhance accessibility to addiction care for youths.

Item Type:	Thesis (Master)
Supervisor name:	Karsten, Julie
Degree programme:	Psychology
Differentiation route:	Clinical Forensic Psychology and Victimology (FP) [Master Psychology]
Date Deposited:	08 Jul 2025 08:48
Last Modified:	08 Jul 2025 08:48
URI:	http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/5340

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