Premarital addiction test and its outcomes

Introduction: Although many people around the world are dealing with addiction, still no method that can detect and permanently treat it has been found. Premarital addiction test is one of the factors of great importance in this field. An erroneous detection in this test affects the psychosocial aspects and marital decisions of the individual. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the health system in premarital addiction tests and its psychosocial effects. Method: This interpretive qualitative study was performed using content analysis. Data were collected from ۶ focus group discussions and ۲ semi-structured individual interviews with couples and health care personnel. All interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim, and themes were extracted using content analysis method. Results: Qualitative content analysis determined the ۲ themes of lack of professional adequacy and consequence of marriage. Conclusion: Premarital addiction test is one of the health services provided by the health care system. An incorrect diagnosis not only has a considerable impact on different aspects of individuals’ life, but is also closely related to the psychosocial concept of dignity. Therefore, the professional competence of the staff in providing these services is very important and necessary.

Keywords:

Addiction , Marriage , Health system