Parenting training program for parents with an addiction and their children aged 6 to 12: Characteristics of families reached by the program
The addiction to alcohol or psychoactive substances of a parent has impacts on the family unit and its functioning. It can influence parenting skills of the parents and greatly affect the children’s development. In Quebec, since 2008, two parental management training programs created especially for children from 6-12 years old whose one parent has problems with substances (PEHP-Dependance) have been implemented in some addiction rehabilitation centers (CRD). This study aims to identify the characteristics of the families attending a PEHP-Dependence in CRD in Quebec and to investigate if these families represent a homogeneous group. The sample is composed of 80 families and 108 children who participated in the PEHP-dependence. The results show that these families share comparable characteristics with families typically affected by alcohol or psychoactive substances addiction, who could also benefit from this type of intervention. Four types of families have been identified based on familial difficulties and parent’s psychological problems, representing a heterogeneous group of participants in PEHP-Dependance in the study. In the process of implantation of PEHP specific to families whose parents have an addition to alcohol and drugs, these results are a first step to better adapt interventions.