Introduction: Illicit drug addiction is a chronic illness which affects more and more people every year in Slovenia and all over the world. As a healthcare profession, occupational therapy is heavily involved in treatment and abstinence maintenance. The MOHO model was used for defining the environment and structuring results by topics. Purpose: The purpose was to discover what role occupational therapists have when working with people who are addicted to illicit drugs and what is typical of the environment in which these individuals live. Methods: A scoping review was conducted using six databases: Cochrane Library, Wiley Online Library, Medline, CINAHL, Web Of Science, and PubMed. Eighteen articles were included in the final analysis. Results: Physical environment factors which have an influence on addiction development are: growing up in poverty, low education, having a physically demanding job, low socioeconomic status, and living in an environment where crime and drugs are highly prevalent. Social/cultural environment factors are: culture and habits, accepting drugs as a coping mechanism for stress, peer pressure, belonging (or wishing to belong) to social groups, religious beliefs, family dynamics, and promoting/inhibiting abstinence in important relationships. Discussion and conclusion: Along with environment factors, factors related to an individual also have a direct influence on developing an addiction to illicit drugs. Taking into account the way these two elements are intertwined proves to be important when planning a treatment and maintaining abstinence. Occupational therapists help best by teaching how to organise, plan, and set goals and boundaries; creating routines; finding new occupations and ways to participate in them; helping with the inclusion into society and work environment; and providing support and compassion. Addiction disorder is accepted, normalised, and treated in different ways across the world. Experts agree that the increasing prevalence of illicit drug addiction in society as a whole and among young people is an important topic for further research and requires more attention from different healthcare and social fields in preventing the spread of this illness.
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