Vol.2 Issue: 3 - Research Project - Support for Vietnamese Families of Illicit Drug Users

Over the next three years a research project .Support for Vietnamese Families of Illicit Drug Users. will be undertaken with a focus on the support needs of Vietnamese-Australian families who are affected by illicit drug-using family members. The research is funded under the Australian Research Council Linkage Project Grant and is a partnership between the Australian Catholic University and Mary of the Cross Centre. It will build on the pilot project .Experiences within the Family of Non-using Siblings of Illicit Drug Users. completed in 2001. An overview of the pilot research was included in the 2001 Summer edition of At The Cross, Volume 1, Issue 3, page 5.

The aims of the research are threefold:

• To ascertain the impact of illicit drug users on their Vietnamese-Australian families.
• To identify the need and type of support required by Vietnamese-Australian families of illicit drug users.
• To work with Vietnamese-Australian families, their community and mainstream services in developing appropriate responses to the identified needs.

To achieve these aims the following objectives have been developed to guide the research work:

• Review the existing literature on Vietnamese families, including the role of family, resettlement experiences, current state-of-affairs, illicit drug use and its impact on families, systems of support and current government and community policy and program responses.
• Engage Vietnamese-Australian families, Vietnamese-Australian organisations and agencies, and other significant stakeholders in identifying the ways an illicit drug user impacts on his/her family and the resulting consequences.
• Identify the capacity of Vietnamese-Australian families to manage the impact and consequences of having an illicit drug user within the family.
• Assess the importance of any other factors that affect the ability of Vietnamese-Australian families to deal with the impact of a family member who is an illicit drug user.
• Assess the need for support of Vietnamese-Australian families in dealing with a family member who is using (or suspected of using) illicit drugs.
• Elicit what type of support is required by these Vietnamese-Australian families.
• Determine whether or not Vietnamese-Australian families would seek out and use this type of support if it was available.
• Identify the range of support options currently available to these Vietnamese-Australian families, assessing both the uptake rates and the outcomes.
• Work with Vietnamese-Australian families in developing ideas for increasing the level of culturally relevant, meaningful and sensitive support available to them.
• Collaborate with Vietnamese organisations and agencies to build a greater understanding of Vietnamese-Australian families impacted on by family members who are using illicit drugs and to explore their capabilities to provide appropriate support.
• Investigate the level of use of mainstream services, especially drug and family services, by Vietnamese-Australian families of illicit drug users and their outcomes, negotiating for the adoption of more culturally sensitive and inclusive policies and support programs, if required.

The scope of the research project will focus on Vietnamese-Australian families in the Melbourne metropolitan area, along with agencies that have the potential to address their support needs.

The primary methodology employed will be action research, and by its very nature, will create opportunities for members of the Vietnamese-Australian community to participate fully in the undertakings of the research. In addition, the participatory factor in action research means that .the researched. come to a better understanding of their situations, have input into the development of strategies to effect change, and, overall, can claim a sense of ownership and share in any successful outcomes. It can be regarded as an empowering process for all involved.

Further articles about the progress of the research project will be published in future editions of At The Cross. In the meantime, if readers are interested in knowing more about the research, or feel they have something to contribute, the researcher is happy to respond to any inquiries. Please feel welcome to email John Byrne at johnbyrne001@hotmail.com