‘Being a Mom’ in a Mixed-Gendered Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Program: A Phenomenological Study

• Author / Creator

  Campbell, Serena

• Children are often the primary reason women enter a substance abuse treatment program. Women-centered treatment programs have done well to address women’s roles as mothers; however, it is unclear how women attending traditional, mixed gender substance abuse treatment programs that have not adopted a women-centered approach experience motherhood within the treatment context. To this end, a phenomenological study was conducted to explore the lived experience of six mothers attending a mixed-gendered residential treatment program in Alberta, Canada. Four meta-themes, alongside twenty-two subthemes, embody the phenomenon in which, self-forgiveness was both expressed and served as the conduit through which the women experienced looking back and looking forward, and ultimately, for some, a sense of closure. Drawing on attachment theory, psychodynamic theory and self-forgiveness theory, the author discussed how the women’s increased awareness and acceptance of self, facilitated a merging of past experiences with the mother she wanted to be.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Phenomenolgical
  • Mothering
  • Substance abuse

• Graduation date

  Spring 2015

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3HX1600P

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.