Coolmine Therapeutic Community has opened its Parents under Pressure (PuP) programme to external scrutiny and evaluation. The PuP programme aims to improve family functioning and child outcomes by supporting parents who are, or have been, drug or alcohol dependent. Evaluations of the PuP programme have been carried out in other countries but never in Ireland. This is the first evaluation anywhere of the PuP programme in a residential setting.
The current research aimed to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of the PuP programme being delivered in a group setting in addition to one-to-one sessions at Ashleigh House. A combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods was employed. Twenty-three women took part in the
research across three waves.
