What parents of adolescents in residential substance use treatment want from continuing care: A content analysis of online forum posts

Abstract

Background: Parents of adolescents in residential substance use (SU) treatment face a myriad of barriers to continuing care services. Growing research suggests that mobile health (mHealth) technologies can overcome common barriers to continuing care services, yet no work has addressed parents’ needs. To gain insight into parents’ continuing care needs, we analyzed online forum posts made by parents who received a novel mHealth intervention. Methods: Thirty parents received access to an online networking forum where they could connect with our adolescent SU expert or the community of parents also navigating their adolescent’s post-discharge transition. In real-time, participants could ask questions and share information, experiences, and emotional support. Results: Twenty-one parents (70%) posted at least once; 12 parents made 15 posts to our expert, while 18 parents made 50 posts to the parent community. Thematic analysis uncovered five major themes: parenting skills; parent support; managing the post-discharge transition; adolescent SU; and family functioning. Conclusions: Parents discussed a range of topics directly and indirectly related to their adolescent’s treatment. Incorporating networking forums into mHealth continuing care interventions offers parents a secure space to ask questions, share concerns, and gather information needed to support their adolescent’s transition home.

Keywords:

• Online forum
• parents
• continuing care
• substance use treatment
• mHealth

Disclosure statement

The authors report no financial interests or benefits relevant to this work.

Data availability statement

Data are available upon request by contacting the senior author, Dr. Sara Becker.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) under Grant R34DA039289 (PI; Becker). Manuscript preparation was supported in part by the NIDA under Grant K23DA048062 (PI: Helseth) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism under Grant T32AA007459 (PI: Monti, Coauthor Scott). The funding organizations had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.