title: Advertising representation, treatment menu and economic circulation of substance misuse treatment centers in Iran: a rapid survey based on newspaper advertisements.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Daily newspapers are the main platform by which substance misuse treatment (SMT) centers in Iran advertise their services. However, these advertisements provide little information on treatment options or costs. The current research aimed to use advertisements to compile a schema of treatment services and to map the extent and nature of drug treatments offered.
  
  
  METHODS
  During a four-week period (April to May) in 2009, the four most popular Persian newspapers printed in Tehran were reviewed. Across these publications 1704 advertisements were posted by 66 SMT centers. Each center was then contacted by telephone to complete a structured interview about services offered and related costs. The advertisements were also decoded through a quantitative contextual analysis method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  On average, each SMT center published 26 advertisements during the review period, costing 421 US$. In addition, advertisements included word signifiers in six main categories including centers' introduction (100%), treatment types (91%), treatment duration (68%), medicines (70%), treatment features (60%) and psychological facilities (52%). The three detoxification programs advertised were the rapid method (57% of clinics, 443.23 US$), buprenorphine (68%, 265 US$) and methadone (71%, 137 US$). More than 90% of the centers in Tehran were offering methadone maintenance (99 US$, per month).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SMT services in the Iranian market ranged from abstinence to maintenance programs, with opiates as the main focus. This review of centers' advertisements provides an indirect but rapidly obtained picture of the drug misuse treatment network.
authors.affiliation: Social Studies Department, Iranian Institute for Social and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran; Iranian National Center for Addiction Studies, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Sobhan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rezaee
authors.affiliation: Iranian National Center for Addiction Studies, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Translational Neuroscience Program, Institute for Cognitive Science Studies (ICSS), Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: h.ekhtiari@iricss.org.
authors.forename: Hamed
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ekhtiari
mesh_terms: D000329:Advertising / Q000379:methods*; D002047:Buprenorphine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003625:Data Collection; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D008691:Methadone / Q000008:administration & dosage; D009524:Newspapers as Topic; D009293:Opioid-Related Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation; D016320:Substance Abuse Treatment Centers / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000191:economics / Q000534:rehabilitation*
chemical_list: D002047:Buprenorphine; D008691:Methadone
keywords: Advertising representation; Contextual analysis; Iran; Substance misuse treatment center