Impact and Coping in Italian Families of Drug and Alcohol Users

Abstract

This article presents the results of a detailed interview study with 113 family members (FMs) of people with serious alcohol or drug problems, drawn from three different areas of Italy: Ravenna, a medium-sized town in the North (n = 37), and two large cities, in the Centre (Rome, n = 26), and the South (Naples, n = 50). Interviewers used a semi-structured grid covering a range of areas, including the history of the relative's substance misuse, family member's health and well-being, coping, social support, and hopes and expectations for the future. Interviews were analyzed using Grounded Theory. This qualitative analysis of the data defined core categories, which allowed a multidimensional model of coping to be developed, taking into account participants' motivations, thoughts, plans, and behavior. This model highlights the multiple reciprocal interconnections underlying coping. The results demonstrate that family members of people with alcohol or drug problems in Italy suffer in similar ways to family members elsewhere. However, although there are great similarities between these results and results from other countries (Orford 2005a), the importance of the family, both as a central theme in the interviews and occupying a key role within Italy, stands out, as does the role played by interpersonal and relational bonds within the Italian social environment. A range of areas are discussed further.

Italian families living with relatives with alcohol or drugs problems

“…As outlined in the Methods section earlier, qualitative data was also collected (reported elsewhere, Arcidiacono et al, 2009). It is likely that the qualitative in-depth analysis of the interviews which were conducted will allow us to further refine the interpretation of these data.…”

“…Once a potential family member was located, a first contact was made (usually by telephone) and the research was described and an informed consent was sought for the completion of a set of questionnaires (see further) and a more detailed semi-structured interview (the results of which are not reported in this article: see Arcidiacono, Velleman, Procentese, Albanesi, & Sommantico, 2009). Once the consent was received, the family member was met in person and the questionnaire booklet (and semi-structured interview) were administered, with the research worker available to answer any questions about the questionnaires, as needed.…”

Bereavement Following Substance Misuse

“…While there is substantial research literature on substance misuse in families worldwide (Arcidiacono et al, 2009;Orford et. al., 2005), the experiences of family members in their own right have been largely neglected (Orford et al, 2012).…”

Professionals’ evaluation of the ‘5-step method’ for helping family members of substance misusers in the context of the Italian Health Services

“…Of these, 23 staff members (22 from Ser.T, 1 from a hospital unit) were recruited and then attended training: 13 of them then recruited family members. Many of these staff had been involved in a previous phase of this research where the impact on family members within Italy was being investigated (Arcidiacono, Albanese, Sommantico, Procentese, & Velleman, 2007a;Arcidiacono, Velleman, Procentese, Berti, & Pozzi, 2007b), and hence were already familiar with the project, were already involved in the work, and had therefore already become interested in the area. This led to the group of professionals recruited from the substance-misuse services being a tighter team who supported each other; in contrast to the GPs who were much more isolated and who relied much more on the support from the research team.…”