NCJ Number
194216
Journal
Drug and Alcohol Review Volume: 20 Issue: 4 Dated: December 2001 Pages: 385-393
Date Published
2001
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This study examined the ability of family members to cope with an alcohol or drug abusing family member from the perspective of the user.
Abstract
Recently, there has been a great deal of research on how family members are affected by the problem of drug and alcohol misuse of a family member. Research suggests that living with someone with an alcohol and drug problem constitutes a source of stress. This paper was based on the stress-coping model. The main element of this perspective is that family members respond to these stresses through coping actions. The stress-coping model also places emphasis on interactions among the family and the problem alcohol or drug user, but emphasizes the family member as being a victim of stress rather than a factor contributing to the maintenance of the problem. The stress-coping model acknowledges that coping actions of the family member can have a positive impact on the user by encouraging help seeking and change. In addition, it proposes that the coping action of family members may influence the severity of their own stress and their own health. The participants in this study included nine problem drinkers, five problem drug users and one problem drug and alcohol user. Two-thirds of the study participants were male. The paper is based on a section of the data collected as part of a large study of families coping with alcohol and drug dependence. Participants were interviewed using a long semi-structured interview. This paper concentrates on the section of the interview that focused on how the problem alcohol or drug user perceived coping actions of his or her family and how supportive they found such actions to be. Analysis of the data showed that coping strategies that include clear elements of concern appear to be well received by the user. In particular, supportive coping and, in some cases, assertive coping was effective. Controlling coping may be positively viewed by drug and alcohol users provided it is used in conjunction with supportive coping. Results also showed that users found all other forms of coping such as emotional, tolerant, interactive, and avoidance to be unsupportive. Tables, references