Who gets what intervention in Swedish treatment of young substance users? A case study of individual characteristics, needs assessments and treatment trajectories

Problematic substance use during adolescence can result in inequalities in health and well-being later in life.

The project explores how young substance users are handled in the Swedish treatment system, with the country’s largest specialized service provider (Maria Ungdom) as a case.

Young people caught using illicit substances in Sweden must have contact with treatment, yet what interventions they receive vary considerably, both over time and across locations.

Government authorities in Sweden have long raised concerns that collaboration and shared responsibility in the treatment of some groups of young people is deficient.

Very little is known, however, about how the profoundly heterogeneous group of young substance users is dealt with in practice, and to what extent the needs of individuals with different characteristics are met.

Studies on the treatment system for youth substance use are scarce both in Sweden and internationally, which makes this project an important contribution to the field.

Further, although research has identified a ‘changing landscape’ of youth substance use - including decreased alcohol use, cannabis positive attitudes, polarization between affluent and marginalized substance users - there is a lack of knowledge on whether such changes appear in clinical contexts too.

The project aims to open up the ‘black box’ of youth substance use treatment by describing and analyzing in detail the characteristics of patients, how they journey through the treatment system over time, and how professional staff (e.g., health care and social services) collaborate in care networks, assess the needs of and provide treatment to young substance users.

By providing up-to-date knowledge on young people’s encounters with the treatment system, including both registry data, patient journals and service user and staff perspectives, our ambition is to contribute to the development of adequate and effective ways to prevent youth substance use problems.