A Qualitative Exploration of Women's Lives and Resilience in Substance Use Disorder Recovery.

objectiveThis study sought to explore constructs of the Whole Health resilience model to identify potential intervention and local research opportunities as a precursor to intervention development, as well as to describe women's resilience in Substance Use Disorder (SUD) recovery including current strengths, coping, self-care, needs and priorities in the context of their everyday lives.

methodsQualitative data were collected from December 2018 to January 2020 in the Mid-South United States. In-depth interviews of 17 women age 25 to 65 years in SUD recovery for 2 weeks or longer were conducted in 9 different settings including a Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) hospital setting, a MAT pilot program in a community corrections setting, an incarceration re-entry residential program, community-based peer support organizations (eg, Narcotics Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous), a residential SUD treatment facility and a yoga teachers' online group. These data were analyzed with a hybrid approach (inductive and deductive coding).

resultsThe major themes that emerged from the analysis included social support, individual-level cognitive and spiritual strategies; self-care; stressors, priorities, needs, and self-care barriers and trauma. In this context, women needed a wide range of support including treatment of severe physical injuries, professional psychological support, help with restoring relationships, SUD treatment and recovery services, job training and coaching, health insurance advice, transportation, intimate partner violence (IPV) counseling and housing. Peer-support groups and faith communities were instrumental in many (but not all) of these women's lives in recovery-a gap was identified for women who did not have social support from these groups.

conclusionThese data highlight the need for developing interventions for women in SUD recovery that take a holistic view of resilience life areas, as well as integrate professional services, family support, community support and approach care as wrap-around support that includes integration of social services to meet women's basic needs.