Relational Parenting Therapy for Opioid-Abusing Mothers

Project Title:	Relational Parenting Therapy for Opioid-Abusing Mothers
Grant/Contract Number:	RO1 DA11498-01
Type of Project:	Research
Funding Agency:	National Institute on Drug Abuse
Agency Contact Person:	Dorynne Czechowicz, M.D. (301) 443-4060
Principal Investigator:	Suniya S. Luthar, Ph.D.
Mailing Address:	APT Foundation, Inc. 904 Howard Avenue, Suite 2A New Haven, CT 06519
Total Project Duration:	10/01/97 to 09/30/02
FY 98 Total Costs:	$286,349
Total Project Budget:	$2,072,398
Child Maltreatment Focus:	Secondary
Type of Abuse:	Physical, Emotional, Sexual, Neglect; Differentiated
Sample Size:	160 (randomized to 4 treatment groups)
Age of Subjects:	Women and their children under 14 years old
Child Abuse and Neglect Focus of This Project:	Treatment and Preventive Intervention
Summary

The study is a randomized clinical trial of Relational Parenting Mothers' Groups (RPMGs), an intervention for opioid-abusing women with children under 14 years of age (manualized and pilot-tested, P50 DA09241). This intervention addresses psychosocial risks faced by substance-abusing mothers and their offspring and the lack of parenting interventions for addicted mothers with children past infancy. This integrative treatment, based on a developmental psychopathology perspective on resilience, addresses multiple levels of adversity (individual, community, and family), risks known to result in negative parenting behaviors, psychosocial distress, and concomitant psychiatric disturbance among the offspring. RPMG is a structured treatment entailing 24 weekly sessions that will be compared with Recovery Training (a manualized treatment resembling drug counseling); these interventions will be offered as supplements to methadone-maintenance treatment.