Variations of Power and Voluntarism present in Drug treatment settings
Research type
Research Study
Full title
“The negotiation of Prescribing: An exploration of the variations of power and voluntarism present in adult voluntary drug treatment.”
IRAS ID
326215
Contact name
Dennis Gough
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Portsmouth
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
The study aims to explore the presence of power and voluntarism in voluntary adult drug treatment settings with a special focus on Opiate Substitute treatment i.e., Methadone or Espranor. Power and voluntarism were chosen as the key themes in this study, as it is unclear the effects power has on service-users experiences of recovery and on their autonomy.
Qualitative methods (Semi-Structured interviews and Non-participant observations) will be completed with service-users currently prescribed Opiate substitute treatment (OST) and prescribers (Doctors and Non-Medical prescribers) employed by host organisation Change, Grow, live. Research will be conducted at two research sites Change, Grow, Live Worthing Hub (House 30, Emel, 32 Teville Rd, Worthing BN11 1UG) and Crawley Hub (Centenary House, County Buildings, Woodfield Rd, Crawley RH10 8GN). The study will last a minimum of 6-12 months, this includes final write up of findings. The research study aims to offer a new understanding on how forms of power are used to encourage compliance to treatment, how voluntary is voluntary treatment and how the the requirements put in place to ensure safe prescribing (Medicated Assisted Treatment Policy) affects levels of autonomy service-users have over their treatment.
REC name
Social Care REC
REC reference
23/IEC08/0039
Date of REC Opinion
22 Nov 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion