Young people's views on services to help them deal with parental substance misuse

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A B S T R AC T The Moving Parents and Children Together (M-PACT) programme is one of the growing number of interventions tailored to meet the multiple and complex needs of children and families affected by parental substance misuse. This paper pulls together the qualitative findings from 13 evaluated M-PACT programmes in England. Sixtyfour families attended an M-PACT programme, including 82 children and 75 adults. Qualitative data were collected from 37 children, 36 adults and over 30 group facilitators. Six themes are discussed: engaging with M-PACT, shared experiences, understanding addiction, changes in communication, healthier and united families, and ending M-PACT. The majority of families benefitted in a range of ways from the programme: meeting others who were experiencing similar problems, greater understanding about addiction and its impact on children and families improving communication within the family. In many families there was more openness and honesty, stronger relationships and more time as families, and a reduction in arguments and conflict. The key findings are discussed in terms of the potential for interventions of this kind to reduce family-related harm from parental substance misuse.

Section: Overview Of the Main Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supporting families living with parental substance misuse: the M‐PACT (Moving Parents and Children Together) programme

Templeton¹

2012

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“…Many children feel lonely, experience stigma, lack trust in their parents, and assume much responsibility at home, such as caring for parents and siblings (Kallander et al, ; Moore, McArthur, & Noble‐Carr, ). Interviews with adult children of alcohol‐dependent parents emphasize the lack of professional attention they receive during childhood (Templeton, Novak, & Wall, ; Werner & Malterud, ). Research on children growing up with parents with SUD focuses on children's grief and anger because of the parents' failure to fulfil expected parenthood obligations, such as watching football games, joining school events, remembering birthdays, and keeping promises (Holmila, Itääpuisto, & Ilva, ; Wilson et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Growing up with parental substance use disorder: The struggle with complex emotions, regulation of contact, and lack of professional support

Wangensteen

Bramness

Halsa

2018

The aim of the study was to explore young people's perceptions and reflections about growing up with parents who have substance use disorder (SUD). In qualitative interviews with 12 young people (aged 13–26) and in an interpretative phenomenological analysis, we investigated their experiences of everyday life, of the relationships with the parents with SUD, and of conversations about this, both retrospectively and at the present. The findings indicated that the relationships with the parents largely occupied the informants, even when they lived separately from the parent and were protected from the daily exposure of substance use. The informants described their mixed and contradictory emotions towards their parents and the struggle to determine regulation and type of contact. They asked for professional support in order to help them cope with this. Sociocultural discourses concerning family life and substance use were discussed in an attempt to understand the findings. The findings of the study suggest that children and young people should be offered sufficient professional support in order to cope with their mixed and contradictory emotions and to determine the regularity and type of contact with the parents.

“…For one, adult COS mention that the substance abuse problem was frequently not discussed but treated like a “taboo subject” both inside and outside the family (Song, Shin, & Kim, ). We assume that breaking this taboo in an early phase of life may assist COS in understanding what is going on (Templeton et al, ). This, in sum, could guide them towards better choices for themselves in adolescence, when they and their peers may start experimenting with several substances.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We assume that breaking this taboo in an early phase of life may assist COS in understanding what is going on (Templeton et al, 2011). This, in sum, could guide them towards better choices for themselves in adolescence, when they and their peers may start experimenting with several substances.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new preventive intervention for children of substance‐abusing parents: Results of a randomized controlled trial

Bröning

Sack

Haevelmann

et al. 2019

Children of substance-abusing parents (COS) are at risk for developing psychosocial problems. We evaluated the effectiveness of the manualized, 9-session psychoeducational preventive intervention "TRAMPOLINE" (PE) for 8-12-year-old COS compared with a non-educational "fun and play" group (NE) of equal length delivered by social workers in 27 German counselling centres. A randomized controlled trial was conducted to compare PE (n = 130) and NE (n = 88) outcomes at baseline, post intervention, and 6-month follow-up. Primary outcomes were related to stress and coping; secondary were also examined. Analyses were conducted using baseline-adjusted repeated measures linear mixed models. Five outcomes revealed improvements both in PE and NE, four of which were more pronounced in PE, and one more pronounced in NE. Small but significant group differences in favour of PE were found in "social isolation" and "addiction-related knowledge." Children from both groups reported reduced mental distress, reduced avoidance in coping with family stress, improved self-perceived autonomy, and a better parent-child relationship. No changes were observed in self-efficacy, physical stress symptoms, and in other health-related quality of life aspects. TRAMPOLINE can instill positive changes in COS by reducing mental distress and social isolation.