Substance Use as an Occupation: Explaining Substance Use among Street Children in Harare Using The Hidden Resilience Theory

Abstract

The phenomenon of street children punctuating the morphology of many urban areas is global, disquieting and escalating. These children are a human rights and health concern. Few studies have explored the experiences of violence among female children living and working on the streets in Africa in general and in Zimbabwe in particular. Drug and substance use is both an occupation and resilience pathway for children living and working on the streets. To further understanding of the experiences of drug and substance use among street children, the current study explores the experiences of drug and substance use among street children in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare. The Hidden Resilience Model is used to explain the occurrence of the occurrences of drug and substance use among street children in Harare. The Qualitative data were collected using semi-structured interviews and drawings with 14 street children. Participants were recruited using purposive sampling, and the data were analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Ethical considerations such as right to withdraw, anonymity and confidentiality were promised and adhered to. A number of themes emerged from the data that and these included initiations, drugging for female street children, drug use as an occupation, criminological purposes and the hidden resilience pathway. The findings suggest that the drug and substance use is an occupation, a survival strategy and a hidden resilience pathway for street children. The author recommends that prevention and intervention strategies for street childhood should address drug and substance abuse. Family reunification, sexual and reproductive health programmes, drug rehabilitation, educational support and livelihood support programmes should be introduced to the children.