Experiences of coloured heroin users in Metro South area of Cape Town: A social work perspective.

• Main Author: Caswell, Dominique
• Other Authors: Henderson, N.
• Language: en
• Published: University of the Western Cape 2018
• Subjects: Heroin; Drug abuse; Coloured; Social worker; Social constructionism; Symbolic interactionism
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11394/6212

Magister Social Work -MSW === Heroin usage is on the increase in the Western Cape province of South Africa owing to globalization and to increased access to the drug in this province. The goal of this study is to explore the experiences of coloured heroin users in the Metro South area of Cape Town, which stretches from Simons Town and Muizenberg to Retreat, Lavender Hill, Grassy Park, Parkwood and Wynberg. These individuals have been found to congregate in the Wynberg CBD. The overarching theoretical framework for the purpose of this research is social constructionism and symbolic interactionism, using a qualitative means of inquiry. Snowball sampling was used to recruit prospective participants and data was collected by means of in-depth interviews, with a semi structures interviewing schedule. The questions informed the subsequent themes and categories that arise from the data collection process. Snowball sampling was employed in this case, a non-probability sample, in which participants were recruited via key informants. The sample distribution included 13 participants, 10 of which were heroin users (5 female, 5 male) and the remaining 3 were key informants which contributed to triangulation of the data.