A study on the psychosocial challenges faced by mothers addicted to drug use in child care

Abstract

Background: The specific objectives of this study were to identify the psychosocial problems that have arisen in child care due to mothers' drug use, and to identify the psychosocial problems faced by children due to mothers' drug use. Method: This study was conducted as a descriptive study under the qualitative research methodology. Under purposeful sampling, 10 families in the Western Province with children under the age of 18 and mothers who use drugs were used for the research study. For data analysis, the qualitative data obtained by the study has been presented analytically under thematic content analysis according to their respective characteristics. Results: According to the results of the study, problems have arisen within the family due to mothers' drug use, and the children of the family are under pressure, the children's education, as well as the love, care, and social protection that children should receive within the family, have been lost. Mothers have failed to provide protection in child care due to drug use, and that task is performed by another member of the family. Because of this, interpersonal relations within the family have broken down, a distance has developed between children and parents, and broken families have been created. It was possible to identify the facing of many economic problems due to the lack of money for expenses incurred for family needs and the personal problems arising through it, affecting the family and developing into social problems. The psychosocial problems caused to children by drug use within the family have affected the children's personality development, attitude development, social development, and emotional development. In the personality development of children, it was possible to see interpersonal and behavioral problems, difficulties in maintaining existing relationships within the family, and weak achievement of educational goals. Instead of developing good emotions such as happiness, kindness, love, and compassion in development, bad emotions such as anger, grief, stress, and opposition have developed in children in a family environment with drug-using parents. Conclusion: Children in a family that uses drugs have to face negative life experiences. Due to mothers' drug use within the family, the duties and responsibilities that should be fulfilled for children have been missed, and problems regarding children's safety and care have increased. A tendency to turn to alcohol and other drugs during adolescence and beyond may also develop. Accordingly, it was identified in this study that mothers face psychosocial problems in child care due to drug use, and for that reason, children face psychosocial problems.