title: Street and working children of Delhi, India, misusing toluene: an ethnographic exploration.
abstract: Our qualitative study explored: the perceptions of street children indulging in whitener fluid misuse; the social, economic, and cultural determinants of use; and users' views regarding effective preventive and control strategies. Forty-five in-depth interviews and three focus group discussions were conducted between March and December 2003. A purposive sample of those working children who were using toluene was selected by Snowball sampling. The paper discusses the: determinants of initiation and continued use; drug user social networks; psycho emotional deprivation and frustrations of these children; socio-cultural aspects like work driven need; others' attitudinal response towards them and their work; parental support or the lack of it; and strategies for prevention of this misuse.
authors.affiliation: VIMHANS & PCI, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Rajeev
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Seth
authors.forename: Atul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kotwal
authors.forename: K K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Ganguly
mesh_terms: D000280:Administration, Inhalation; D000293:Adolescent; D002391:Catchment Area, Health; D002648:Child; D004651:Employment; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018453:Homeless Youth / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology*; D014050:Toluene / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D014050:Toluene