Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Ups and downs of drug rehab among women: a qualitative study  
 
Version: 0 Date: 14 Oct 2019  
 
Reviewer: Suzanne Brown  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
This paper on the Ups and Downs of Drug Rehab for Women is an interesting topic and certainly 
appropriate fo r the use of qualitative methods.  However, this paper has significant limitations.  I 
will enumerate them below.  
 
1.  The manuscript requires extensive editing in order to be publishable in English  
 
2.  It is unclear how the authors recruited their particip ants and from what settings.  In one place 
I saw counseling center and prison.  The authors need to be more specific.  Was it multiple sites 
and if so how many participants from each site?  
 
3. The purpose of this study is unclear.  The authors state that th e purpose is to understand the 
relationship between context of addiction and thoughts and behaviors.  I have no idea what this 
means and do not see how the current study addresses that purpose.  
 
4.  In the literature review the authors do not review any pre vious research that addresses the 
purpose of their study.  More depth is required to set up the study purpose and methods.  
 
5.  In the Methods section it is unclear how the authors identified the categories and 
subcategories they arrived at.  How did the au thors identify "Needs for Emancipation" or 
"Sinking Factors"?  Were there any disagreements among coders about the categories and if so 
how were these resolved?  
 
6.  In the Findings section I am again unclear as to how the coders made decisions about the 
coding of specific quotes and see alternative categories.  For example, the quote used to illustrate 
the subcategory, "acquaintance with God" the participant stated "l liked to get rid of the fear of 
rape by men who came to my home to give me drugs. I wish m y mother did not leave me alone 
that day in the garden to get drugs… These wishes have been memories for years; and with those 
same wishes, I will go again to quit. God's remorse is my hope for perseverance."  There are 
many other themes in this quote incl uding fear of sexual assault and maternal abandonment.  Yet 
these themes are not examined at all.  
 
7.  In the Discussion section the authors come to a number of conclusions that are not supported 
by the data.  One example is in the suggestion that religion be "institutionalized".  Yet, no where 
in the data do the participants report the importance of institutionalized religion -only the 
importance of God -which is different from institutionalized religion.  
 
Are the m ethods appropriate and well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
 
No 
 
Does the work include the necessary controls?  
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Unable to assess  
 
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?  
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.  
 
No 
 
Are you able to assess any statistics in the manus cript or would you recommend an 
additional statistical review?  
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please speci fy what aspects require further 
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
 
I am able to assess the statistics  
 
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:  
 
Not suitable for publication unless extensively edited  
 
Declaration of competing interests  
Please complete a declaration of competing interests, considering the following questions:  
 
1.  Have you in t he past five years received reimbursements, f ees, funding, or salary 
from an organisation that may in any way gain or lose financial ly from the 
publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
2.  Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisat ion that may in any way gain or 
lose financially from the publication of this manuscrip t, either now or in the 
future?  
 
3.  Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents  relating to the content 
of the manuscript?  
 
4.  Have you received reimbursemen ts, fees, funding, or salary from an o rganization 
that holds or has applied for patents relating to the content of the manuscript?  
 
5.  Do you have any other financial competing interests?  
 
6.  Do you have any non -financial competing interests in relation to t his paper?  
 
If you can answer no to all of the above, write 'I declare that I have  no competing interests' 
below. If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.  
 
I declare tha t I have no competing interests  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal. I understan d that my name will be included 
on my report to the authors and, if the manuscript is accepted f or publication, my named report 
including any attachments I upload will be posted on the websi te along with the authors' 
responses. I agree for my report to be made available under an Open Access Creative Commons 
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which I do not wish to be included in my name d report can be in cluded as confidential comments 
to the editors, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal