Storying youth's experiences of coerced or voluntary residential substance abuse treatment: A narrative research project.

The focus of this research is to examine the lived experiences of adolescents who voluntarily attended, or who were coerced to attend, a residential substance abuse treatment program. The intention of the research is to provide further context into understanding the lived experience of attending an adolescent treatment program. Minimal literature and research into the experiences of voluntarily or being coerced to attend treatment has been presented in the discourse on this topic. Therefore, this research will represent an exploration into further understanding these experiences in broader, yet more detailed terms. The research involved interviewing 8 adolescents between the ages of 16 and 18 who were attending a residential substance abuse program. Adolescents described experiencing both internal and external pressure to attend treatment. Internal and external experiences occurred in both a temporal and locality context revealing valuable insight into the lived experience of being coerced or voluntarily attending residential substance abuse treatment. --P.ii.