Addiction and Pregnancy: Empowering Recovery through Peer Counseling

(Hardback)

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Pioneering evidence is presented in this book to support the effectiveness of peer counseling for substance abuse treatment of pregnant women and their families. The introduction by Barry R. Sherman describes his personal experience as a behavioral scientist doing work in a culture other than his own. A comprehensive overview of the crack epidemic and its impact on women is followed by an up-to-date account of acupuncture in addiction treatment. The authors use the theory and principles of social learning to justify the peer counselor model known as SISTERS. Chapters include discussions of conducting culturally competent research, development and validation of the Abstinence Self-Efficacy Scale (ASES) and the Traumatic Life Events (TLE) Inventory, as well as the social support systems of drug-dependent women. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are used to evaluate program impact. A urine toxicology index of sobriety as well as empirical measures of psychosocial functioning and client satisfaction demonstrate sufficient success and cost-effectiveness of the program to warrant serious support by health care providers and insurance companies.

Reviews

"A comprehensive overview of substance abuse during pregnancy, a fascinating account of acupuncture as a detoxification technique, the development of new assessment measures, and a novel theory of why peer counseling works, are just some of the bonuses readers will find. Sherman and his co-workers have made a major contribution to the treatment of addiction."-William J. Reid, Professor School of Social Welfare, SUNY-Albany
"Peer counseling is an effective approach in dealing with the critical problem of addiction and pregnancy. Barry Sherman's book presents a state-of-the-art program that can empower pregnant mothers in the process of recovery from addictive behavior problems. I highly recommend reading this book."-G. Alan Marlatt, Ph.D. Professor and Director, Addictive Behaviors Research Center University of Washington
"This is an interesting, well-documented, and well-written account of an innovative program designed to deal with a serious and often intractable social and psychological problem. The authors are to be commended for the program's innovations and for the careful, data-based evaluation that is presented in the book....I was particularly impressed with the chapter on self-efficacy and the measure for abstinence self-efficacy that the authors developed specifically for the group of women involved in the intervention program."-James E. Maddux, Ph.D. Professor and Associate Chair for Graduate Studies Department of Psychology, George Mason University

Author Bio

BARRY R. SHERMAN is Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy, Management and Behavior, State University of New York at Albany, School of Public Health and Director of Research and Program Evaluation, New York State Department of Health, Bureau of Child and Adolescent Health. LAURA M. SANDERS is currently an evaluation consultant in Phoenix, Arizona./e She was the evaluation consultant for the SISTERS demonstration project funded by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. CHAU TRINH is a doctoral candidate at Columbia University's School of Public Health.