A feasibility study exploring self-care and parenting for adults recovering from addictive substances

Little information is available on parental self-care while in recovery from addictive substances, and its relationship to parenting and recovery outcomes. We evaluated the feasibility of obtaining self-care and parenting outcomes for adults in long-term recovery from addictive substances, and explored potential contributing factors. Nineteen mothers and fathers who self-reported at least two years of sobriety participated in this study. Feasibility challenges included recruitment and scheduling interviews, given multiple work and personal demands on participants' schedules. Possible associations of self-care to parental efficacy (PE), parenting behaviors, resilience, and total recovery years were examined as indicators to parental functioning. The exploratory analyses showed a significant moderate correlation between PE and parenting behaviors (r = 0.45, p < 0.05) as well as total years in recovery and age (r = 0.43, p < 0.05); total years in recovery differed significantly when compared by race (χ2 (1) = 5.63; p = 0.018) and education (χ2 (1) = 3.94; p = 0.048). There was also a significant inverse relationship between total years in recovery and PE (r = -0.43, p < 0.05) and parental self-care (r = -0.59, p < 0.01). Recruiting parents (especially minorities) in long-term recovery was very challenging indicating that recruitment through community organizations was not feasible without a site champion. Preliminary findings showed statistically significant correlations among self-care, parental efficacy, age, and total years in recovery. As researchers and clinicians, it is necessary to determine the role and impact of self-care for future intervention development, however, recruitment strategies need to be modified to ensure sufficiently large study samples.