Consommation de substances psychoactives, motivation et ouverture envers l'intervention des adolescents placés en centre de réadaptation

Substance use among young people placed in Quebec’s youth centers is well documented but their motivations to use, to change or to talk with an educator about their consumption remain unknown. Moreover, very few researchers have demonstrated an interest in the particularities associated to the process of change in adolescence and even less within a context of authority. For these reasons, this research gives voice to young people aiming to better understand their use of psychoactive substances, their possible desire to reduce or to stop their use, and their openness to talk about their consumption as well as to the available interventions. Based on qualitative data consisting of 27 interviews with adolescents placed at Montreal’s Youth Centre and eight months of participant observation in the units, the results indicate that the majority of the youngsters interviewed use many psychoactive substances, for which they identify different sources of motivation to consume as much as to change their patterns of drug use. Moreover, the sources of motivation identified can be more or less related to the context of authority in which they are placed. Thus, some young people feel that the change in drug use is facilitated by a controlled environment of the Youth Center, while others don’t seem to be affected by the constraints of such an environment. Moreover, young people show different degrees of receptiveness to the available interventions and to educators around them. In general, comprehensive and less authoritarian approaches seem to encourage some investment in the relationship between young people and educators and may potentially facilitate the establishment of a helping relationship and behavior change. Using the proposed theoretical framework, a combination of the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change and Self-Determination Theory, it would seem limiting to consider adolescents as motivated or unmotivated to change their drug use. Analyses show that perceptions about the need or the possibilities to start a process of change vary greatly from one participant to another. Therefore, the approach chosen to intervene with troubled youth should take into account the nuances and dynamics of motivation in order vi to better adapt services and to better understand the reasons associated with success and failure of some interventions and educators towards some youth. In addition, to promote a positive perception of the "placement" among young people as an "opportunity for change" it is important to examine the frequency and intensity of the restrictive interventions used in rehabilitation centers. Finally, it is important to point out that the findings of this exploratory study cannot establish causal relationships between the approach chosen by the educator, the youth’s motivation to change as well as their receptiveness. However, the data obtained allow for in-depth analyses of how the relationship of these three elements is perceived by adolescents.

Keyphrases: Adolescent, Adolescent, Consommation de substances psychoactives, Substance use, Motivation, Motivation, Responsivity, Youth center