Experiences of Parents with Opioid Use Disorder during Their Attempts to Seek Treatment: A Qualitative Analysis

Christine Bakos-Block, Angela J. Nash, A. Sarah Cohen and Tiffany Champagne-Langabeer ()
Additional contact information
Christine Bakos-Block: Center for Health Systems Analytics, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA
Angela J. Nash: Cizik School of Nursing, UTHealth Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA
A. Sarah Cohen: Center for Health Systems Analytics, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA
Tiffany Champagne-Langabeer: Center for Health Systems Analytics, School of Biomedical Informatics, UTHealth Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 24, 1-11

Abstract: In the U.S., 12.3% of children live with at least one parent who has a substance use disorder. Prior research has shown that men are more likely to seek treatment than women and that the barriers are different; however, there is limited research focusing specifically on opioid use disorder (OUD). We sought to understand the barriers and motivators for parents with OUD. We conducted a qualitative study by interviewing parents with OUD who were part of an outpatient treatment program. Interviews followed a semi-structured format with questions on access to and motivation for treatment. The interviews were recorded and transcribed using OpenAI software. Transcripts were coded by two separate reviewers and then analyzed for themes using Atlas.ti. We interviewed 14 individuals; 3 were men, and 3 of the women identified as LGBTQ+. The participants ranged in age from 27 to 54 years old. All participants had a least one child. Gender differences existed. Mothers reported experiencing more barriers—notably, a lack of childcare, shame, and guilt—while fathers reported higher levels of support from family. Both mothers and fathers identified their children as a motivation for recovery, albeit in differing ways. Mothers and fathers with OUD experience different barriers to treatment and also rely on different resources. Prior efforts to increase access to treatment for parents have focused on physical barriers; however, our research supports the need for expanded treatment services for families and efforts to address the stigma of substance abuse disorder, but more efforts are also needed to address stigma.

Keywords: opioid use disorder; parents; barriers; gender; stigma (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/24/16660/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/24/16660/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:24:p:16660-:d:1000322

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().