ADDICTED MOTHERS &OFFSPRING RECOVERY &EDUC (AMORE)

The aim of this study is to assess the differential effectiveness of
treatment of drug-abusing women who have children and have been randomly
assigned to one of two conditions: regular therapeutic community treatment
without their children or regular therapeutic community treatment with
their children living with them in a Mother-Child Unit (MCU). In this
study, which is aimed particularly at low income, minority women, a
primary measure of differential effectiveness will be post-treatment
drug-free status of the MCU and comparison groups. Other measures such as
length of stay in treatment, post-treatment employment, criminality, and
prosocial functioning will give measures of the effectiveness of the MCU.
The study will take place at Amity, Inc. in Tucson, Arizona, a traditional
therapeutic community that has piloted this MCU model and has data
suggestive of the hypothesis that adding the MCU improves treatment and
post-treatment functioning. The research protocol and statistical analysis
will be administered by the University of Arizona, Department of
Psychology. While evidence mounts concerning both the negative effects of
maternal drug use upon mothers and their offspring and the reluctance of
women with children to enter treatment or to remain in treatment when
separated from their children, few programs of any modality have made
alterations to remove this significant baffler to treatment if the
hypothesis of this study is supported, further studies regarding
enhancements of the MCU would be suggested, as well as measures to
determine the differential effectiveness of the MCU on the children of
addicted women. Support of the hypothesis would suggest widespread
replication of the MCU in therapeutic communities throughout the country.