Mothers experiences of the Parenting Under Pressure Program (PuP) in a Residential Therapeutic Community: A qualitative study

ABSTRACT

Several studies suggest parental substance use, while not always the case, exposes children to a higher risk of physical, psychological, behavioral and emotional problems. Identifying interventions that best support the parent and child needs is imperative. The PuP programme aims to improve family functioning and child outcomes by supporting parents who are or have been drug or alcohol dependent. PuP combines psychological principles relating to parenting, child behavior and parental emotion regulation within a case-management model. The current study was the first evaluation of the PuP program in a residential setting globally. Twenty-three women took part in pre and post-program qualitative interviews. Guilt was a dominant theme across interviews. The principal expectation of participants was to improve their relationships and access to their children. The benefits of the PuP program to the women and their children, as reported by participants, were immediate and direct. As the women progressed through the program, they were visibly building belief in their abilities to parent.

KEYWORDS:

• Parenting under pressure
• qualitative
• therapeutic community

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the service users and PuP therapists from Coolmine Therapeutic Community.

Disclosure statement

Two of the authors PMcK and AH are treatment providers at Coolmine. PMcK is the CEO of Coolmine a Therapeutic Community in Ireland and AH is a manager of the female service (Ashleigh House) within Coolmine. Coolmine funded the research reported here, with funds from the Community Foundation for Ireland.

Notes

1. Treatment is defined as attendance at specialist substance use treatment program where the parent has an assigned substance use worker. However, more recently the criteria of “receiving treatment” were expanded to those who were on an opioid substitution programs and linking with a GP was classed as “in treatment”. Those who only access self-help programs like Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous, or drop in facilities at drug clinics or needle syringe exchange programs, are not deemed as receiving treatment.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by Coolmine with funds from the Community Foundation for Ireland.