Department of Public Health, School of Health and Allied Sciences, Pokhara University, Pokhara, Nepal.
Torrens University, Pyrmont Campus, Sydney, Australia.
PLoS One. 2021 Nov 5;16(11):e0259021. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0259021. eCollection 2021.
Psychoactive substance use among youth is an emerging public health issue in Nepal. This exploratory study aimed to better understand the drivers of psychoactive substance use among Nepalese youth in Rupandehi district of Nepal.
This study used a qualitative approach for data collection. Both in-depth interviews (IDI, seven participants) and focus group discussions (FGD, 13 participants) were conducted among study participants who self-reported as psychoactive substance users or had history of psychoactive substance use. Participants for IDI were aged between 11 and 24 years and between 18 and 35 years old for FGDs. Semi-structured interview guides were prepared separately for IDIs and FDGs. Interviews were conducted in Nepali language and were audio recorded, which were there transcribed and translated into English for coding and analyses. In addition, interviews notes were taken by two research assistants. An inductive thematic analysis was used to analyze the data.
This study identified a range of drivers of psychoactive substances use among Nepalese youths. Themes included (i) socio-cultural factors, (ii) individual factors, (iii) academic environment, (iv) physical environment and the (v) influence of media. The socio-cultural factors were categorized into sub-themes of family relationships, ethnic identity and psychoactive substance use and lack of social acceptance. Individual factors included peer pressure, stress relief and coping with financial challenges. Accessibility and availability of psychoactive substances in the surrounding environment and lack of monitoring and reinforcement of rules/ law and regulations were other drivers to psychoactive substance use among this Nepalese youth cohort.
Our study identified several important drivers of psychoactive substance use among youth in the Rupandehi district of Nepal. Future works are anticipated to further explore youth initiation and use of psychoactive substances and support the design of interventions that address these risk factors to reduce and prevent subsequent harms.
在尼泊尔，青少年使用精神活性物质是一个新出现的公共卫生问题。本探索性研究旨在更好地了解尼泊尔鲁潘德希地区青少年使用精神活性物质的驱动因素。
本研究采用定性方法收集数据。在研究参与者中，进行了深度访谈（IDI，7 名参与者）和焦点小组讨论（FGD，13 名参与者），这些参与者自我报告为精神活性物质使用者或有精神活性物质使用史。IDI 的参与者年龄在 11 至 24 岁之间，FGD 的参与者年龄在 18 至 35 岁之间。为 IDI 和 FGD 分别编写了半结构化访谈指南。访谈以尼泊尔语进行，并进行了录音，随后将其转录并翻译成英文进行编码和分析。此外，两名研究助理还记录了访谈笔记。采用归纳主题分析对数据进行分析。
本研究确定了尼泊尔青少年使用精神活性物质的一系列驱动因素。主题包括（i）社会文化因素，（ii）个体因素，（iii）学术环境，（iv）物理环境和（v）媒体影响。社会文化因素分为家庭关系、民族认同和精神活性物质使用以及缺乏社会认可等亚主题。个体因素包括同伴压力、缓解压力和应对经济挑战。周围环境中精神活性物质的可及性和可得性以及对规则/法律和法规的监测和强化不足也是该尼泊尔青年群体使用精神活性物质的其他驱动因素。
我们的研究确定了尼泊尔鲁潘德希地区青少年使用精神活性物质的几个重要驱动因素。预计未来的工作将进一步探讨青少年开始使用和使用精神活性物质的情况，并支持设计干预措施，以解决这些风险因素，减少和预防随后的危害。
