Substance Use Disorders in Adolescents: A Qualitative Systematic Review

TL;DR

This study reviews adolescents' experiences with substance use to improve treatment and policy decisions.

Contribution

It provides a qualitative synthesis of adolescents' life experiences with substance use disorders to inform treatment and policy.

Findings

Four main themes emerged: starting and continuing substance use, duration of dependence, effects of use, and treatment experiences.

Substance use disorder negatively affects adolescents, their families, and their environments.

Adolescents provided suggestions for improving treatment processes.

Abstract

It is important for the treatment and care of adolescents using substances to bring out their life experiences relating to substance use.

To analyse and synthesise qualitative evidence on substance use‐related life experiences of adolescents with substance use disorder.

A systematic review of qualitative studies.

Systematic searches on the databases PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, EBSCO CINAHL Complete and Web of Science were conducted between December 2023 and February 2024 and supplemented by manual search strategies. As a result of the search, 1271 articles were accessed and 11 articles were included in the study. In order to assess quality, the critical appraisal skills programme was used. Synthesis of the data was performed using the thematic analysis method recommended by Thomas and Harden (2008). In study reporting, the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta‐analyses (PRISMA) 2020 checklist and enhancing transparency in reporting the synthesis of qualitative research (ENTREQ) guidelines were used.

From 11 included publications, four main themes emerged: starting and continuing substance use, duration of dependence and related factors, the results of substance use and experiences of the treatment process.

Substance use disorder had serious negative effects on the adolescents themselves, their families and their environments. In line with these negative experiences, adolescents made suggestions regarding the substance use disorder treatment process.

Professionals working with adolescents can plan their interventions in line with the experiences and suggestions of adolescents who use substances. In addition, governments can take into account the experiences and suggestions of adolescents with substance use disorder when structuring health policies.

No patient or public contribution.

This meta‐synthesis was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42022298218).

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