Skip to main content
ABCT 2024 58th Annual Convention Main banner
Psychology Tools Ad
Final Program


Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Presentation Icons
Recorded Session
Recorded Session
Ticketed Session
Ticketed Session
Back

LGBTQ+

Queering Recovery: A Qualitative look at Substance Use Treatment Experience for Transgender and Non-Binary Populations

(PS9-60) Queering Recovery: A Qualitative Look at Substance Use Treatment Experience for Transgender and Non-binary Populations

Saturday, November 16, 2024
11:30 AM – 12:30 PM EST
Location: Franklin Hall, Level 4, Marriott Downtown
Abstract Text:

Purpose: In the U.S., an estimated 50% of people over the age of 11 are currently struggling with problematic substance use (National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics, 2023). Transgender and nonbinary (TNB) populations are at higher risk for substance use disorder (SUD) compared to cisgender populations, often to cope with social bias and discrimination (White Hughto et al., 2016; Cotaina et al., 2022). Further, TNB individuals face significant obstacles to healthcare services (Lampe et al. 2023; Cochran et al., 2007), including treatment for SUD, due to minority stress and bias within healthcare systems (Cotaina et al., 2022). Despite these barriers, some TNB adults complete SUD treatment and achieve long-term recovery (defined as over one year); however, scarce research has qualitatively evaluated the process of SUD recovery and sustained recovery among this population. The present study addresses these gaps by qualitatively evaluating how recovery is experienced by TNB individuals, including the social support, coping skills, and resources utilized by those who have achieved long-term recovery.





Method: Participants included ten TNB adults who self-identified as being in long-term recovery from SUD. The sample was primarily men/transmasculine (70%) and people of color (65%), ranging in age from 36 to 70. Participants were recruited from an urban, private treatment center alumni pool in South Texas. Seven participants completed one-on-one interviews, and three participants completed a focus group. All interviews were conducted by the first author, a licensed chemical dependency counselor intern with three years of clinical experience. Interviews were transcribed and thematically coded to identify the themes for content analysis (Braun & Clark, 2006).


Results: This study identified two broad categories of data related to what participants experienced while in treatment and recovery: recovery supporting and recovery deterring experiences. Recovery supporting experiences included familial support of recovery, familial gender affirmation, positive experiences with social support programs, spiritual maintenance, and connecting with other TNB adults-in-recovery, while deterring factors included anti-LGBT sentiment from family and community, disassociation from social supports, and the inability to meet basic needs in recovery.


Discussion: This study offers preliminary insights into treatment enhancing and deterring factors that sustain long-term recovery for TNB adults before, during, and after SUD treatment. The themes suggest that social identity experiences, spiritual connectedness, and familial acculturation were particularly helpful in the recovery process. These areas could inform outpatient therapy programs and clinical discharge planning by incorporating treatment enhancing elements into programs and helping TNB individuals and their families prepare for the recovery experience. Treatment deferring factors should also be avoided or addressed, such as offering services to families to combat anti-LGBT bias. Future research should investigate these factors through quantitative methods to assess if these factors statistically improve treatment outcomes.