Agency and Addiction in a Harm Reduction Paradigm: French Nursesʹ Perspectives

French psychiatric nursesʹ perspectives on individuals addicted to drugs and their treatments are influenced by French socio-cultural norms. In this study, steps of the ethnographic method were used to elicit the intertwining of French professional and cultural perspectives on drug addiction. Emergent themes from nursesʹ interviews and cultural participant-observations suggest that drug addiction management in Franceʹs harm reduction paradigm challenges nursesʹ beliefs about addicted individualsʹ agency and conformity to treatment goals, and is influenced by European Union membership, changes in health care, drugs and demographics. Novel nursing strategies emergent from these themes might be applicable in other cultural contexts.