Until There's Nothing Left: Caregiver Resource Provision to Youth with Opioid use Disorders

Abstract

Background and Aims Despite the considerable literature associating certain characteristics of caregivers and family structures with risks of adolescent/young adult (youth) substance use, there has been little study of the role of caregivers in opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment outcomes. This qualitative study sought to understand and contextualize the factors that influenced the resources caregivers provided their youth after residential treatment. Methods In order to improve understandings of the role caregivers play both during and after residential OUD treatment, 31 caregivers of youth who were in a residential substance use disorder treatment center were interviewed at baseline, three-months, and six-months following their youth's discharge. Results This analysis focused on the provision of caregiver resources and identified three key influences – OUD understandings and expectations, relationships with youth, and the emotional toll on caregivers. This has important implications as residential treatment success rates are relatively low among this population. Conclusions These findings suggest that engagement of caregivers and families in outpatient care following residential treatment could offer an important opportunity for interventions that promote youth recovery.

What features of drug treatment programs help, or not, with access? a qualitative study of the perspectives of family members and community-based organization staff in Atlantic Canada

“…The limited literature that does exist on family perspectives points to quick access as being helpful [28], and not helpful features include limited availability of services, cost of services, and wait times [27][28][29]. Most of this literature, however, centres on youth treatment programs [27,29,30]. CBO staff perspectives on drug treatment programs are also relatively underexplored [31], and there is specifically a knowledge gap based on treatment programs in Atlantic Canada.…”