SAFE SPACE: supporting families affected by substance use

Developing a research collaboration to address complex public health problems

Fuse researcher Ruth McGovern is developing a collaborative project with the help of NIHR School for Public Health Research (SPHR) funding to support family members affected by an adult relative’s substance use.

SPHR funding provided the opportunity to form the collaboration and evolve a research plan with ‘Julia’ (not her real name) the partner of a substance user and Adfam, a national charity working to support families affected by substance use.

From this an application was successfully submitted to Medical Research Council (MRC) Public Health Intervention Development (PHIND) for a project to develop a public health intervention to support the non-using parents and caregivers of children within substance exposed families. The ‘SAFE SPACE’ project began in December 2020 guided by the collaborative team which includes 'Julia' as a co-investigator.

The collaboration was also successful in applying for a linked SPHR PhD studentship. Cassey Muir was appointed and her doctoral work aims to co-produce an intervention to promote social and emotional resilience in children whose parents use substances.

These two SPHR projects will form the basis of future collaborative funding applications to examine the feasibility and effectiveness of the interventions to address the social and emotional needs of family members affected by an adult relative’s substance use.

Fuse website: Developing careers in public health research through Fuse - Cassey Muir

SPHR website: Safeguarding children affected by parental substance misuse: developing parenting interventions to support non-using parents

Linked SPHR themes/programmes: Children, young people & families programme; Public mental health programme; Changing behaviour at population level theme; Health inequalities theme; and the Alcohol programme.

Last modified: Fri, 08 Apr 2022 14:02:12 BST