Perception of the mothering role of women who live in a context of drugs and violence

Abstract

The number of women involved with drugs is increasing, and the same is true for violence against them. Many of these women are mothers. This study aimed to investigate how mothers of children between one month and six years old who are living in a context of drugs and violence and are receiving treatment for drug addiction interpret their experience as mothers. This article is part of a multicenter study in Colombia and Brazil and discusses the results of interviews with 6 Colombian mothers. Focused ethnography was used and the interviews were submitted to latent content analysis. Violence was present in the participants' socio-cultural context and drugs consumption in their family of origin. These aspects possibly induced them to become addicted to drugs and influenced their mothering role. Overall, the mothers expressed ambivalence about their role in that they idealized being mothers but were aware that they were addicted mothers.