Women Leadership in Oxford House: Examining Their Strengths and Challenges

Factors of Empowerment for Women in Recovery from Substance Use

“…The Self-Perception subscale included questions from the original PPS-R (Johnson et al 2005) as well as questions that evaluated participation in leadership activities (Davis et al 2006). Collectively, these items measured women's self-perceived power and competence, autonomy, self-nurturance, interpersonal efficacy, awareness of cultural discrimination and personal strength.…”

“…The findings of this study contribute to the debate on the measurement of empowerment. The analysis revealed that 3 of the 12 items which loaded on the Self-Perception subscale had previously been identified by women in recovery as important qualities for leadership (Davis et al 2006). In addition, five of the items on the Self-Perception subscale highlighted women's sense of personal competence and autonomy, both of which are promoted by the Oxford House model through shared responsibility for the living environment (Oxford House, Inc. 2008).…”

“…To enhance the scale's relevance to the nomological framework of empowerment and women in substance use recovery, 20 questions were added to the PPS-R. Five questions measured knowledge of resources in the community, based on the needs of women in substance abuse treatment (Ashley et al 2003;Greenfield and Pirard 2009;e.g., ''I am aware of places in the community that will help me with childcare''), and ten questions measured participation in community activities and helping behavior. Five questions were grounded in research which demonstrated that women Oxford House members value the ability to provide support for each other and give back to the community (Viola et al 2009; e.g., ''I participate in activities to help other people like me improve the quality of their lives''), and five questions assessed leadership behaviors (e.g., ''I act as a good role model'') based on leadership characteristics previously identified among women in substance use recovery (Davis et al 2006). All answers were recorded on a seven-point Likert scale ranging from ''Almost never'' to ''Almost always,'' with a high score suggesting high empowerment; 14 of the original 28 items and 3 of the 20 added items were reversed coded.…”

Spiritual awakening in 12-step recovery: Impact among residential aftercare residents.

“…The present study examined the presence of one form of second-order change, a spiritual awakening because of AA involvement, in the context of another, residence in a substance use aftercare treatment setting. More specifically, in the present study, spiritual awakening among persons in recovery was assessed in the context of a safe, sober living setting known as Oxford House (OH; Jason et al, 2006; Jason & Ferrari, 2010). OHs comprise a distinct model of a sober living or recovery home, in which no professional staff members are involved, the house is run democratically, and new members are accepted with an 80% majority vote (Oxford House Manual, 2017).…”