2. Candice Groenewald, PhD Akhona Nkwanyana, Hons Sinakekelwe Khumalo, MA
“Like before… I was a good child… but when I start[ed] smoking, that changed [everything]”: Adolescents’ stories of subjective drug abuse.
Candice Groenewald, PhD Akhona Nkwanyana, Hons Sinakekelwe Khumalo, MA
Date: 21/09/2017

3. Background SACENDU 2016 (Dada et al., 2016)
According to SACENDU, rise in the admission of patients to treatment from a low of 9679 in 2015 (January – December), to a high of in 2016 [July – December] (Dada et al., 2016)
more than 27% of all patients admitted to treatment in 2016 were under the age of 20 years

4. METHODOLOGY Participants 5 adolescent boys 15 – 17 years of age
Study sites
2 treatment centres in KZN
Recruitment was facilitated by child and youth care workers at the centres
Consent/Assent was solicited from parents and adolescents
Data collection
1:1 interviews using lifegrid tool
Interviews conducted on two occasions (approx. 60 minutes each)
Data analysis
IPA (Interpretative phenomenological analysis)

5. Results Guiding questions How did the adolescents become drug abusers?
What were the adolescents reasons for coming to treatment?

6. RESULT SECTION 1: PATHWAYS TO SUBSTANCE ABUSE
START/USE
MISUSE
ADDICTION/
DEPENDENCE
Curiosity/ experimenting
Peer modelling
Sense of belonging
The progression of drug use associated with the search for a more intense euphoric experience
wanting a "HIGHER HIGH"
Amount of drug used
Physiological dependence
"I started with woonga in 2013 [...] I started with friends[… like I uh like I want[ed] to experience it ja“ - Hlomu
"It’s the good thing that I can do, because all of them, they left [me] out . It’s only me who was left. And I felt like no, like I’m feeling like I’m left out“ - Bhekani
"Woonga is a little bit hard because it got consequences, you get cramps, if you don’t have it , it’s hard, with dagga I don’t see a problem because even if you don’t have it you don’t have those cramps, cravings“ Tumelo
"Ja they say if you smoke woonga you become high ja nice high and I want[ed] to experience [ what] he [was] talking about” Sibonelo
Social science that makes a difference

7. RESULT SECTION 2: “DECISIONS” TO SEEKING TREATMENT
“[…] I have seen that I am putting my life [at] risk because anything now can happen to me because I have seen one of my friend got=he, he died[…] that there was something, like telling me now, like no, I have to stop doing this things now!” - Tumelo
“Ummm, mam but I first time me was here, they told me that I must come here…my parents” - Bhekani

8. CONCLUSION
The study provides knowledge on the adolescents’ subjective experiences of the progression of their drug abuse
The findings resonate with the literature that peer influence, curiosity, experimentation, and belonging are key factors that contribute to substance use among adolescents (Brook et al., 2006; Gopal & Collings, 2012; Simons-Morton & Farhat, 2010; Fareo, 2012; Loke & Mak, 2013)
The consequences to drug abuse are poor academic performance and school dropout (Mnguni, 2014; Plüddemann & Parry, 2012)
Our findings offer insights into the reasons that adolescents seek treatment
Two main reasons: a) parental influence and b) self-motivation or readiness to change
The literature suggests that readiness to change is associated with positive (successful) treatment outcomes
A further development of qualitative research, is needed to explore the depth and breath of the findings amongst South African adolescents with drug dependence
Longitudinal studies that track adolescent outcomes after treatment based on readiness will be useful to further explore these issues

10. Acknowledgments
“The support of the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development towards this activity is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at, are those of the author and are not necessarily to be attributed to the CoE in Human Development”