Date: 12 April 2017

SUPPORTING PARENTS AFFECTED BY

SUBSTANCE ABUSE: SETTING AN AGENDA

Candice Groenewald Post-doc fellow

Human and Social Development Unit Human Sciences Research Council

Implementation framework

Formative work Revisions

Current/ On-going

(2017/18) Next steps (2018/19)

Stage 1 Findings: Parents’

experiences

Stress and strain

What is it like to live with an adolescent who has a substance abuse problem?

Coping responses

How do parents respond to the adolescents’ behaviours?

How do they deal with their own distress?

Support

What kind of support do parents have access to?

Do parents recognise the need for support for themselves?

Disrupted lives: Stress, strain, coping, support

Stress and

strain

Coping

Coping

Support

Summary

• ASA significantly impacts on the lives of parents

• Parents are required to find ways of dealing with the adolescents’

behaviours and their own distress

• Often with little support, formal and informal

• Lack of awareness of the importance of parental support

• Limited availability and access to coping support services

• Stigma and disclosure

• Parents who are adequately supported to cope, will be able to

support adolescent better- mask

• Parents will be able to identify useful and ineffective coping

responses and alleviate their stress and strain

• Next phase of work- intervention focused

Stage 2: Service providers’ workshop

Establish a ‘family-focused’ network of service providers to serve in an advisory capacity

Document current family-focused responses (models, programmes, formal and informal etc.)

Review the applicability of the 5-Step Method intervention

This phase is extremely important as service providers can advise on the

implementation of services for parents

Service providers’ workshop_Section 1: Current

parent-focused programmes/services • The aim here is to determine:

• What is currently available for parents?

• What do these programmes/services (P/S) offer?

• Who provides these P/S(treatment facilities, primary healthcare, community

level)

• Which frameworks are used and why?

• When are these services offered? Once-off or follow-up?

• What is covered; i.e. is it directed at support for the parent, information sessions,

etc.

• Accessibility and availability of P/S

• Are there costs involved (including indirect costs such as traveling or taking off

from work)

• Who usually attends these P/S? Are these well attended? (Why, why not)

• Are these P/S group or individual focused?

• Implementation challenges of P/S and recommendations for strengthening

current P/S

• Where should P/S be implemented or made available

• Process of implementation of services

Overview of 5-Step intervention

• The 5-Step model recognises that both the substance abuser and the family

members are disempowered by the substance abusers behaviours (Orford et al.,

2013).

• It incorporates a flexible, multifaceted approach to supporting families and can be

conducted in a face-to-face or web-based format.

• This intervention is implemented over 5 sessions with the aim to facilitate positive

changes in the ways families cope with their own distress and respond to the

substance user.

• Step 1: Establishing rapport and encouraging disclosure

• Step 2: Providing relevant information based on the needs of client

• Step 3: Discuss coping responses and examples (advantages and

disadvantages)

• Step 4: Discuss sources of support (formal and informal) and support seeking

• Step 5: Review sessions and identify additional support needs

• It is not instructive, but rather uses a collaborative approach to find alternative coping

mechanisms for the family members that will decrease the affected person’s

psychosocial distress.

Service providers’ workshop_Section 2: Adapting

5-Step intervention

Service providers’ workshop_Section 2: Adapting

5-Step method cont.

• The aim is to evaluate the intervention in relation to:

• The conceptual model

• Application

• Duration of the programme,

• Relevance to the South African context

• Incorporation of parent-focused elements

• Uptake of the programme,

• Perceived implementation challenges

• Suggestions for amendments

• Difference between 5-step and current support P/S

Workshop format

• Formal and informal practitioners are welcome

• Persons who work closely with adolescents and their families

• Treatment centre staff, formal family programmes (NarAnon

family groups for example), informal community level family

support (could also be faith-based services)

• Persons who are able and willing to undergo training on

intervention and participate in pilot phase

• Proposed workshop date: October/November 2017

• If you cannot attend the workshop, it would be appreciated if one

representative from your organisation could complete a survey on

the issues discussed

Implementation framework

Formative work Revisions

Current/ On-going

(2017/18) Next steps (2018/19)

Contact details for further information or

discussion

Candice Groenewald

Email: crule@hsrc.ac.za

Office: 031 242-5520

Cell: 0838226224