Social Identity Mapping as a Tool for Data Collection in Adolescent Recovery: A Mixed Methods Adaptation Study
Emily A. Hennessy, Sarah Bentley, David Best, Kriti Sinha, Mark D. LittBackground
Social group memberships and group behaviors are pivotal in supporting or inhibiting adolescents’ addiction recovery. Yet most research on social processes has relied on traditional surveys that cannot capture the complex nature of evolving social networks. Social Identity Mapping in Addiction Recovery (SIM-AR) asks respondents to create a visual representation, or map, of their social network, social groups, and social influences. The SIM-AR thus provides a novel, interactive, and detailed means to collect social network information, and does so in a way that is accessible and meaningful to participants.
Objectives
This study aimed to pilot and adapt the SIM-AR with adolescents and young adults in addiction treatment and recovery programs so it might be used as a standardized tool for data collection.
Design
This was a multi-method study that piloted the SIM-AR approach in both paper-pen and online (oSIM-AR) formats, and used this feedback to update the approach.
Methods
Participants (
Results
Adolescents found the SIM-AR process acceptable, “fun,” and “helpful.” The paper-pen version took ∼30 minutes (
Conclusion
Support was found for the SIM-AR as an interactive, easy-to-use, and time-efficient measurement tool with adolescents. We plan to implement the SIM-AR in recovery programs to examine whether these programs generate network change.
Registration