Social support networks of incarcerated women with opioid use disorder: Differences associated with jail-based substance use treatment

Introduction: Social support is a critical factor for women's engagement with substance use treatment and recovery, particularly for women with criminal-legal system involvement. However, less is known about the social support networks of incarcerated women, particularly as a function of service engagement. Thus, this paper aims to describe the structure, composition, and function of social support networks of women with opioid use disorder (OUD) incarcerated in jails; and compare network differences between women receiving jail-based substance use treatment and non-treatment participants. Methods: As part of a larger clinical trial under the NIDA-funded Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN), staff conducted an egocentric social network inventory with women who were randomly selected from eight jails in Kentucky, screened for OUD, and consented (N = 445). Women were asked to name people (alters) who provided them with support in the past 90 days and respond to questions about alters who were named. Bivariate comparisons examined differences in social networks among women who were currently receiving jail-based treatment (29.9 %, n = 133) and those who were incarcerated, but not receiving treatment (70.1 %, n = 312). Results: On average, women's social support networks consisted of 2.4 alters (range 1–9). Compared to women with OUD who were not receiving treatment, those in treatment were significantly more likely to name at least one alter who was in recovery (57.9 % vs. 43.9 %, p = .007) and less likely to name a partner (21.8 % vs. 37.8 %, p = .001) or someone who had recently used opioids (9.8 % vs. 24.7 %, p < .001). On average, women in treatment also felt significantly closer to their alters (4.70 vs. 4.55 out of 5, p = .021) and rated alters as fulfilling more types of social support functions (5.54 vs. 5.18 out of 6, p < .001) and recovery support functions (2.83 vs. 2.70 out of 3, p = .016). Conclusion: Results suggest that women participating in jail-based substance use treatment reported more positive social support network attributes, including network function and composition. Future research should assess longitudinal changes in networks and associated differences in recovery outcomes as women are released to the community.