An Exploration of How Working-Class Substance Users in the Western Cape Understand Their Addiction

Abstract

The study aims to explore how substance users from poor and working-class backgrounds in the Western Cape, South Africa, understand the development of their patterns of substance use. Using a mono-method qualitative research design under an intersectional theoretical framework, 11 face-to-face interviews were conducted. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Six themes were identified: addiction and agency; substance use as a coping mechanism; unmet attachment needs; societal factors influencing substance use; the psychology of active addiction; and recovery. The results of this study correspond to existing literature on substance abuse; however, this study is unique in that it relates problematic substance use to violence and poverty, through the mechanism of shame, in a South African context. Future research should aim to conduct interviews in participants' home languages to aid in capturing more nuanced narratives. Moreover, a more gender-balanced sample should be interviewed which would allow the female voice to come through more consistently