TY - JOUR
T1 - Identifying Subgroups of Cannabis Users Based on Help-Seeking Preferences
T2 - A Latent Class Analysis
AU - Olthof, Marleen I. A.
AU - Blankers, Matthijs
AU - van Laar, Margriet W.
AU - Goudriaan, Anna E.
N1 - Funding Information: The study is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. The funder had no role in the design, data collection, analysis, and writing of this manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by S. Karger AG, Basel.
PY - 2022/9/1
Y1 - 2022/9/1
N2 - Background: The majority of people with cannabis use disorder do not seek treatment. If we were able to gain more insight into different subgroups of cannabis users based on help-seeking preferences, we could use this information to inform the development and promotion of interventions targeted at specific subgroups of cannabis users, to ultimately narrow the treatment gap. Methods: An online survey was conducted among 1,015 Dutch frequent cannabis users (18-72 years) to assess their cannabis use, help-seeking preferences, psychopathology, and psychological distress. Latent class analysis was used to identify classes of cannabis users based on their help-seeking preferences. Differences between the identified classes in terms of sociodemographics, cannabis use, and psychopathology were examined. Results: We identified four classes with distinct preferences for support. Class 1 ("no support/only social,"n = 548) had a low probability of finding any form of support appealing other than social support. Class 2 ("online help,"n = 170) had relatively high probabilities of finding online help appealing. Class 3 ("GP/outpatient,"n = 208) had a relatively high probability of finding support from the general practitioner and outpatient substance use disorder treatment appealing. Class 4 ("all sources,"n = 89) had moderate to high probabilities for all sources of support. In terms of sociodemographics, differences between the classes were found with regard to gender and level of education. The classes were fairly similar with regard to cannabis use, only the "online help"class scored significantly lower on both cannabis use frequency and quantity compared to most of the other classes. In terms of psychopathology, the "GP/outpatient"class and the "all sources"class experienced more cannabis use-related problems and were more likely to report multiple past quit attempts than the "online help"class and the "no support/only social"class. Conclusions: Our study shows that there is a lot of inter-individual variation in how appealing various forms of help are to cannabis users. Our findings emphasize the importance of promoting a variety of treatment modalities for cannabis users, including real-life and digital options, and indicate what might appeal to whom.
AB - Background: The majority of people with cannabis use disorder do not seek treatment. If we were able to gain more insight into different subgroups of cannabis users based on help-seeking preferences, we could use this information to inform the development and promotion of interventions targeted at specific subgroups of cannabis users, to ultimately narrow the treatment gap. Methods: An online survey was conducted among 1,015 Dutch frequent cannabis users (18-72 years) to assess their cannabis use, help-seeking preferences, psychopathology, and psychological distress. Latent class analysis was used to identify classes of cannabis users based on their help-seeking preferences. Differences between the identified classes in terms of sociodemographics, cannabis use, and psychopathology were examined. Results: We identified four classes with distinct preferences for support. Class 1 ("no support/only social,"n = 548) had a low probability of finding any form of support appealing other than social support. Class 2 ("online help,"n = 170) had relatively high probabilities of finding online help appealing. Class 3 ("GP/outpatient,"n = 208) had a relatively high probability of finding support from the general practitioner and outpatient substance use disorder treatment appealing. Class 4 ("all sources,"n = 89) had moderate to high probabilities for all sources of support. In terms of sociodemographics, differences between the classes were found with regard to gender and level of education. The classes were fairly similar with regard to cannabis use, only the "online help"class scored significantly lower on both cannabis use frequency and quantity compared to most of the other classes. In terms of psychopathology, the "GP/outpatient"class and the "all sources"class experienced more cannabis use-related problems and were more likely to report multiple past quit attempts than the "online help"class and the "no support/only social"class. Conclusions: Our study shows that there is a lot of inter-individual variation in how appealing various forms of help are to cannabis users. Our findings emphasize the importance of promoting a variety of treatment modalities for cannabis users, including real-life and digital options, and indicate what might appeal to whom.
KW - Cannabis use
KW - Cannabis use disorder
KW - Help-seeking
KW - Latent class analysis
KW - Treatment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85133141877&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1159/000524938
DO - https://doi.org/10.1159/000524938
M3 - Article
C2 - 35738241
SN - 1022-6877
VL - 28
SP - 331
EP - 339
JO - European Addiction Research
JF - European Addiction Research
IS - 5
ER -