Strategies and Adaptations to an Integrated Substance Use and Infant Mental Health Treatment Program During COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in increased parenting stress and substance use. At the same time that mental health and social service needs increased, access to services, including among those receiving treatment, decreased due to stay-at-home orders. Few programs were equipped or prepared to translate their interventions to a virtual format at the start of the pandemic. There is a critical need to identify effective adaptations to substance use and family-focused treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Effective program adaptations have continued relevance for the expansion of access to family-focused addiction services beyond the pandemic itself, particularly for rural or other hard to reach populations. Seventy-three semi-structured interviews were conducted with the five agencies participating in the implementation of the In-Home Recovery Program (IHRP), an in-home, substance use disorder (SUD) treatment program. Using a rapid analysis approach two coders analyzed interviews for recurring concepts and themes. Facilitators for adapting services included: (1) the introduction of virtual toxicology screens, (2) helping parents access technology, (3) assisting parents with non-identified children to decrease their stress, and (4) anticipating reoccurrences of substances during the pandemic. Barriers to adapting services included: (1) engaging young children in virtual treatment, (2) privacy, and (3) engaging in telehealth with parents experiencing domestic violence or reoccurrence of substances. Findings reveal virtual substance use treatment is possible. Facilitators to adaptation such as providing access to technology and virtual toxicology screens demonstrate the feasibility and acceptability of utilizing telehealth interventions for substance use. Barriers to adaptations were primarily related to the infant mental health component. Telehealth is likely not appropriate for children below the age of five. Individual sessions focusing on caregiving, rather than dyadic treatment may be more suitable to virtual formats.

The Emotional Experience of Parental Incarceration from the African-American Adolescent Perspective.

The presented article reviews a research study on the lived experience of having a parent or parental figure incarcerated during one's adolescence. The research study was conducted to fill a gap in the literature about the adolescent experience of this phenomenon. This qualitative research study used transcendental phenomenology to access the experience of six urban residing African-American participants through 15 in-depth semi-structured interviews. The study used purposive sampling in which participants self-selected to participate in the study. The study yielded findings in five major areas: developmental impact of parental incarceration, emotional impact of parental incarceration, social impact of parental incarceration, spiritual impact of parental incarceration, and levels of adaptation. This article focuses specifically on one of the findings, the emotional experience of parental incarceration. Analogous to Kubler-Ross's research on the stages of grief, this study found that the participants experienced a distinct set of emotions connected to the phenomenon of parental incarceration. By understanding this distinct set of emotions, child welfare providers as well as social service providers will have a better insight into their patients' emotional experiences and how these influence behaviors. More research is needed on the adolescent experience of parental incarceration before this phenomenon is fully understood.