The IRIS Project crosses the border of the traditional publicly funded substance abuse treatment model provided for low-income substance abusing parents to include interventions for their children. The project bridges services to the children of substance abusing parents (COSAPs) through a community based collaborative effort between treatment centers, a non-profit demonstration research program, and local elementary schools. The study addresses an important gap in the treatment of substance abuse in families because most publicly funded programs provide treatment services only for parents. The 3-year longitudinal study examines 100 treatment and 100 comparison families to determine the most effective prevention and intervention services for the prevention, delay, and/or reduction of substance abuse by COSAPS.
This mid-study sample consists of 70 treatment and 45 comparison families with pre and post intervention measures. The study’s sample is composed of low income urban families, headed by predominantly Caucasian females with at least one child between the age of 9 and 11. Participants are recruited from county substance abuse treatment agencies and through local advertisements. The child-centered interventions include: the Strengthening Families Program (Kumpfer, 1991), a family training program for substance abusing parents and their children; individual counseling/support groups for children; outreach with service advocacy including home visits; and academic tutoring.
Structural equation models will be estimated to examine the effects of the interventions on changes in parent-child communication, family bonding, parent drug use, and children’s risk and resiliency. We hypothesize that the multi-focal interventions will result in improvements in the outcome measures.
Learning Objectives: The participant will:(1) learn how to use community outreach workers to increase enrollment and retention,(2) learn about the personal social competencies skills that improve the functioning of children of substance abusing parents (COSAPs), (3) learn strategies to improve family management skills for substance abusing parents and their children;(4) receive an interim findings report on a COSAPs study involving 100 treatment and comparison families with implications for program design serving COSAPs and their parents
Keywords: Substance Abuse Treatment, Community Collaboration
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Office of Educational & Community Initiatives
WestEd
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Santa Ana, CA 92705
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.