Factors Effective on Drug Abuse from the Male Prisoners Point of View: Case Study of One of the Southeastern Prisons in Iran

Background: Identifying the factors effective on the tendency to substance use from the viewpoint of high-risk groups such as prisoners is essential for planning to control and prevent substance use. The purpose of this study was to determine the factors related to substance use tendency from the prisoners' point of view.   Methods: This descriptive and analytic cross-sectional study was performed in the winter of 2015 on male prisoners in one of the southeastern prisons of Iran. Subjects were enrolled by simple random sampling based on the list of prisoners. The questionnaire included demographic characteristics, substance use, factors effective on substance abuse tendency in the individual, interpersonal and social domains. Finally, Data was analyzed using SPSS 20 software with two sample t-test, one-way ANOVA and Tukey post hoc tests.   Results: The social (mean score 3.67) and individual (mean score 3.56) domains had the highest, and interpersonal domains (mean score 3.48) had the lowest mean scores for the factors affecting substance use tendency. The mean scores of each three domains were significantly different (P<0.001). In the individual domain, a positive attitude towards substance use (3.84), in the social domain, lack of access to counseling services (3.72) and in the interpersonal domain, the friends' component (3.64) had the highest mean scores.   Conclusion: Providing supportive and counseling services, limiting access to drugs, changing attitudes about drug use and treatment, and preventing depression should be considered as a basis for substance use prevention programs