‘Before, we ended up in conflicts, now we can provide support’—Experiences of Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) for parents of young adults with hazardous substance use

Abstract

Background

The prevalence of hazardous substance use is highest in the age between 18 and 25, but few young adults enter treatment. Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) is a support program for concerned significant others (CSOs) of individuals with diverse substance use disorders and is proven efficacious in promoting treatment entry. The aim of the current study was to investigate the experiences of CRAFT among parents of substance using young adults.

Methods

We used a qualitative design conducting semi-structured interviews with 10 parents of young adults (18–24 years) with hazardous substance use. The participants were recruited from a randomized controlled trial of the CRAFT program. The transcribed interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Results

We divided the results into three overall domains—Reasons for entering the CRAFT program, Strengths of the CRAFT program and Limitations of the CRAFT program – with three to four themes under each domain. The parents appreciated the accessible support at a time when they needed it due to feelings of shock and powerlessness, and they described communication strategies together with positive reinforcement as the two most helpful CRAFT-sessions. Regarding limitations of CRAFT in the current population, the parents wanted more accessible support for the young adults when they were ready to enter treatment, and described difficulties to practice CRAFT-components due to changing life-circumstances and fear of aggravated health for their young adults.

Conclusion

The results provide arguments for the health care system to implement support programs to parents of young adults with hazardous substance use. The results show that CRAFT is suitable for the current population, but with some possible additions due to changing circumstances that are common in the young adult developmental phase emerging adulthood.

Trial registration

The trial was pre-registered at isrctn.com, reference number ISRCTN12212515 date: November 7, 2018.