Centre for Research on Drugs and Health Behaviour, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, London, United Kingdom.
Soc Sci Med. 2010 Oct;71(8):1489-97. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.07.028. Epub 2010 Aug 11.
Parents who use drugs parent in a context of heightened concern regarding the damaging effects of parental drug use on child welfare and family life. Yet there is little research exploring how parents who use drugs account for such damage and its limitation. We draw here upon analyses of audio-recorded depth qualitative interviews, conducted in south-east England between 2008 and 2009, with 29 parents who use drugs. Our approach to thematic analysis treated accounts as co-produced and socially situated. An over-arching theme of accounts was 'damage limitation'. Most damage limitation work centred on efforts to create a sense of normalcy of family life, involving keeping drug use secret from children, and investing heavily in strategies to maintain ambiguity regarding children's awareness. Our analysis highlights that damage limitation strategies double-up in accounts as resources of child protection as well as self protection. This illuminates tensions in the multiple functions that accounts of damage limitation can serve. We draw a distinction between accounts in which damage is qualified and those in which damage is accepted. Accounts of damage qualification highlight a theme of 'good enough' parenting. Accounts of damage acceptance highlight a theme of 'recovery'. We find that the interview accounts operate in response to a regulative norm of 'good parenting' in which one strives to deflect damaged identity through narratives of damage qualification and to seek understanding and acceptance through narratives of recovery. Noting the absence of space for parents who use drugs to openly reflect or talk about the challenges they face, we identify the need for social change interventions to create enabling environments for earlier help seeking and talking.
吸毒父母在关注父母吸毒对儿童福利和家庭生活的破坏性影响方面处于高度关注之中。然而，很少有研究探讨吸毒父母如何解释这种损害及其局限性。我们在这里借鉴了 2008 年至 2009 年在英格兰东南部进行的 29 名吸毒父母的深度定性访谈的音频记录分析。我们对主题分析的方法将账户视为共同产生和社会定位的。账户的一个首要主题是“损害限制”。大多数损害限制工作都集中在努力营造家庭生活正常化的感觉上，包括对孩子隐瞒吸毒行为，并大力投资于保持孩子对毒品的意识模糊的策略。我们的分析强调，在账户中，损害限制策略既是儿童保护的资源，也是自我保护的资源。这揭示了损害限制策略的多重功能所存在的紧张关系。我们区分了损害被定性的账户和损害被接受的账户。损害资格的账户强调了“足够好”的育儿主题。损害接受的账户突出了“康复”的主题。我们发现，访谈账户是对“良好育儿”的规范规则的回应，在这种规则下，人们通过损害资格的叙述努力转移受损的身份，并通过康复的叙述寻求理解和接受。我们注意到吸毒父母没有空间公开反思或谈论他们所面临的挑战，我们确定需要社会变革干预措施为早期寻求帮助和对话创造有利的环境。
