An evaluation of maternal addiction treatment and barriers to long term residential treatment length of stay

Maternal substance abuse is a subtype of addiction that impacts not only the addicted woman but her children and community. The UNC Horizons program is a gender-specific substance abuse program for women who are pregnant and/or parenting young children, and provides both outpatient and residential treatment. The residential program at Horizons involves a one-year commitment that includes intensive substance abuse treatment, parenting skills training, medical care, case management services, and other skill development/educational programming. While many women complete the entire program, approximately 30% leave the residence before they complete the program. The purpose of this research study is to examine how pregnant women and mothers with substance abuse problems adjust to the residential treatment program and why some may choose to leave treatment prematurely. The study involves open-ended, in-depth interviews with women at the UNC Horizons residential program about their reasons for entering treatment, self-assessed progress in the program, perceptions about the program and the rules at the residence, and potential factors that may cause them to leave before treatment is completed. This research will enable us to analyze how perceptions of the residential program change over time. We anticipate that 30 women will participate in the study, which was approved by both the UNC-CH and the ECU IRBs. Data from the study will increase our knowledge of barriers to long-term residential treatment for some clients, and allow us to develop interventions designed to address these barriers and increase length of stay in the residential program.