Date of Award

2002

Document Type

Thesis

Publisher

Edith Cowan University

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Community Services, Education and Social Sciences

First Supervisor

Greg Dear

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to explore the challenges of parenting from the perspective of a woman who uses amphetamines. The types of parenting challenge that arise as a direct result of both intoxication and a drug using lifestyle were examined. The study also investigated the types of coping strategies that the participant adopted in meeting her parenting challenges in conjunction with the factors that aided and impeded her preferred method of responding. The study extends onto the existing literature by drawing a participant from a non-clinical setting. The participant was recruited from word of mouth field recruitment. An open response format interview was used to assess the themes of parenting challenges, relationship to drug use and coping strategies. Furthermore, data were collected from the participant's children in order to gauge their current level of functioning. Responses were analysed using a thematic approach. The data indicates a complexity of interactions among the various parenting challenges, coping resources, and life circumstances. Preferred methods of coping were impeded by the participant's intoxication, a drug using lifestyle, domestic violence and a number of complicating life factors. Results are discussed in terms of a harm reduction paradigm in fanning hypotheses to guide future programs that aim to reduce the harm to children of amphetamine users. It is concluded that future methods of service delivery need to focus on placing drug use within a social context. Specifically targeting the harm experienced by family members and providing a more holistic approach to intervention that gains the consumer's trust.

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