Understanding the impact of caregiver recovery capital on self-efficacy : a mixed method approach.

It is necessary to have more literature focusing on caregivers who are in recovery from substance use and their self-efficacy to take care of their children. Self-efficacy is crucial in parenting as it is associated with child-rearing outcomes. By comprehending the self-efficacy of these caregivers, treatment providers and other professionals working with this population can gain better insight into how to best support caregivers in recovery and their children.

This convergent mixed methods study aimed to better understand recovery capital’s impact on a caregiver’s self-efficacy. Cloud and Grainfield’s (2008) recovery capital framework guided the data collection and analysis. I used two quantifiable surveys in the first part of the data collection. Gibaud-Wallston and Wandersman’s (1978) Parent Sense of Competency Scale (PSOC) measured caregiver self-efficacy. Vilsaint et al.’s (2017) Brief Assessment of Recovery Capital (BARC-10) measured caregiver recovery capital. The second portion of the study included semi-structured interviews with five participants. Interview questions aligned with the recovery capital framework and allowed the caregivers to share their recovery experience and perception of self-efficacy to fulfill their caregiver role. The last portion of this study integrated the quantitative and qualitative data to provide a more thorough understanding of caregivers’ perceptions of their recovery capital and how it relates to their self-efficacy as a caregiver.

The results of this convergent mixed methods study indicated that although recovery capital is not a statistically significant predictor of caregiver self-efficacy, there is a relationship between the two. Caregivers in the quantitative portion of this study indicated a high sense of recovery capital and self-efficacy. The qualitative part of the study provided evidence to support these findings. Additionally, all five caregivers reported recovery support services assisted them in feeling confident in their parenting. This study offers preliminary findings to explore self-efficacy further in caregivers across the length of recovery and gender.