Drug dependence is a reality in South Africa, and adolescents are often admitted to treatment centres for rehabilitation. However, it seems that adolescents admitted to treatment centres sometime show resistance, which may lead to the underutilisation of the therapeutic programme. In addition, social workers in the drug dependence field do not have sufficient knowledge to handle the resistance shown by the adolescent drug dependant during therapeutic intervention. The researcher is not aware of any current strategies to identify and utilise resistance. The purpose of this study is to formulate a handling strategy for social workers, which will enable them to identify and utilise the resistance that adolescent drug dependants manifest during the therapeutic intervention in order to allow adolescents to make optimal use of their treatment programmes. To achieve this goal, the Design and Development Model of Rothman and Thomas were used in the intervention research. This study made use of qualitative research in order to work in an exploratory and descriptive way. During Phase 1, i.e. the problem analysis and project planning phase, data was collected through semi-structured interviews conducted with five social workers. These interviews were transcribed and analysed using Creswell’s data analysis spiral. Data has also been collected during Phase 2, which consists of data collection and synthesis by utilising existing sources of information, studying natural examples and identifying the functional elements of successful models. During Phase 3, which is the design phase, an observation system has been designed in the form of a questionnaire aimed at identifying resistance in adolescent drug dependants and at determining procedures for the intervention. A prototype handling strategy was development during Phase 4 (early design and development). This strategy may help social workers working in the field of drug dependence to identify and utilise resistance that appears in adolescent drug dependants during therapeutic intervention. / MSW, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Drug dependence is a reality in South Africa, and adolescents are often admitted to treatment centres for rehabilitation. However, it seems that adolescents admitted to treatment centres sometime show resistance, which may lead to the underutilisation of the therapeutic programme. In addition, social workers in the drug dependence field do not have sufficient knowledge to handle the resistance shown by the adolescent drug dependant during therapeutic intervention. The researcher is not aware of any current strategies to identify and utilise resistance. The purpose of this study is to formulate a handling strategy for social workers, which will enable them to identify and utilise the resistance that adolescent drug dependants manifest during the therapeutic intervention in order to allow adolescents to make optimal use of their treatment programmes. To achieve this goal, the Design and Development Model of Rothman and Thomas were used in the intervention research. This study made use of qualitative research in order to work in an exploratory and descriptive way. During Phase 1, i.e. the problem analysis and project planning phase, data was collected through semi-structured interviews conducted with five social workers. These interviews were transcribed and analysed using Creswell’s data analysis spiral. Data has also been collected during Phase 2, which consists of data collection and synthesis by utilising existing sources of information, studying natural examples and identifying the functional elements of successful models. During Phase 3, which is the design phase, an observation system has been designed in the form of a questionnaire aimed at identifying resistance in adolescent drug dependants and at determining procedures for the intervention. A prototype handling strategy was development during Phase 4 (early design and development). This strategy may help social workers working in the field of drug dependence to identify and utilise resistance that appears in adolescent drug dependants during therapeutic intervention. / MSW, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014