Substance use among people with a migration background

Professionals working in addiction care in both Belgium and other European countries have identified a discrepancy between the prevalence of problem substance use among people with a migration background, and the presence of people with a migration background in treatment facilities. However, little research is currently available on this topic.

This study attempts to fill the knowledge gap in existing research by exploring the patterns of substance use, expectations and treatment needs of people with a migration background in four Belgian target groups (the Turkish community in Ghent; the Eastern European communities in Ghent; the Congolese community in Brussels; and asylum applicants, refugees and undocumented migrants). Substance users with a migration background can be particularly difficult for researchers to reach, so community researchers were recruited to interview substance users from within their own network. Over 200 people were interviewed. The project was carried out in close collaboration with the respective communities and with stakeholders in addiction care.

This book presents the findings of the study, together with recommendations for health care policy and the practice of addiction care. It also details the explorative and qualitative community-based participatory research design (CBPR) that was used to facilitate the study.


About the authors
Research was carried out by a multi-disciplinary team covering sociology, criminology, special needs education, social work and cultural sciences. It was coordinated by the Institute for Social Drug Research (ISD) (Prof. Dr. Tom Decorte, Charlotte De Kock) and carried out with partners in the Department of Special Needs Education (Prof. Dr. Wouter Vanderplasschen, Julie Schamp) and the Department of Social Work and Social Pedagogy (Prof. Dr. Ilse Derluyn, Bert Hauspie) (Ghent University) as well as the Sociology Department of Université Libre de Bruxelles (Prof. Dr. Dirk Jacobs, Dr. Muriel Sacco). The research was funded by the Belgian Science Policy O ce (Belspo) (Project ID: DR/00/069).