Interventions for Alcohol and Drug Misuse Prevention, Treatment and Recovery in Nigeria: Systematic Mapping of Research and Available Interventions

Abstract

Alcohol and drug abuse are significant and growing global public health concerns, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, where prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation services are often limited or under-resourced. This systematic literature review mapped the interventions for alcohol and drug misuse prevention, treatment and recovery in Nigeria. The SPIDER framework for systematic literature review was used to develop keywords and a Boolean function to source and retrieve relevant articles. Publications were sourced and retrieved from PubMed, PsycINFO, and CINAHL databases, and 28 articles were deemed relevant to the study. The content of the publication was analysed and categorised according to the following themes: prevention, treatment, recovery, and rehabilitation approaches to drug and substance misuse. The reported interventions included community-based, peer/family/tenant-led interventions, compassion-focused therapy, social-media-based intervention, Multiple Intelligences Teaching Approach (MITA), Group-focused Cognitive Behavioural Health Education Program (GCBHEP), Car, Relax, Alone, Forget, Friends, and Trouble (CRAFFT), harm reduction, restorative justice, and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Intervention (CBT). Additionally, most of the studies and reports were prevalent in metropolitan and urban regions of Nigeria (Lagos, Kano, Jos, Uyo and Abuja). There seems to be an evolving and disjointed focus for the interventions available in Nigeria in the context of alcohol and drug misuse. While there is growing awareness of the psychosocial and behavioural aspects of substance misuse in existing interventions, programmatic implementation is constrained by structural health system limitations, weak program evaluation, limited recovery support systems, and limited sectoral integration.