Therapeutic Helping among Oxford House Residents

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): [unreadable] The broad objectives of this research are to explore several factors that may impact substance abuse treatment and aftercare programs. Specifically, the research proposes an investigation of how helping behavior impacts the health and recovery process of individuals who suffer from drug abuse and dependence. The study of "helping behavior" among those in recovery is an area of research that has been overlooked to date and offers the potential to increase our understanding of the recovery process. As suggested by the "helper-therapy" principle, individuals with addiction problems may benefit from getting involved as helpers themselves. Helping those with similar problems might facilitate the learning of important interpersonal competencies. Helpers might also experience greater feelings of independence, self-efficacy, social usefulness, sense of control, and willingness to receive help. The research will draw its sample from a large national network of communal living sites for substance abusers known as Oxford Houses (OH) -- democratic, mutual-help settings intended to facilitate residents' development of long-term abstinence skills. The OH residential aftercare program represents an inexpensive and potentially effective setting to promote health, life skills, and abstinence. The trainee will access a longitudinal database, as well as use a repeated measures design to examine the relationship between helping behavior and successful abstinence from substances in this sample of OH residents. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]