EXAMINING RECOVERY COMMUNITY CENTER ENGAGEMENT AND DAILY WELL-BEING: THE ROLE OF RECOVERY RESOURCES IN LONG-TERM RECOVERY FROM SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS

open_access
Open Access
Author:
Ren, Wen
Graduate Program:
Human Development and Family Studies
Degree:
Doctor of Philosophy
Document Type:
Dissertation
Date of Defense:
June 20, 2025
Committee Members:
Heidemarie Laurent, Professor in Charge/Director of Graduate Studies
Timothy Brick, Major Field Member
Derek Kreager, Outside Unit Member
Hobart Cleveland, Chair & Dissertation Advisor
Deirdre O'Sullivan, Outside Field Member
Keywords:
Recovery
Recovery Community Center
Substance Use Disorder
Multilevel Modeling
Abstract:
Recovery Community Centers (RCCs) serve as essential peer-led environments that deliver comprehensive support for individuals recovering from substance use disorders (SUDs), offering services such as peer recovery coaching, mutual-help meetings, employment and housing assistance, and substance-free recreational activities. Despite their increasing prominence in the recovery landscape, significant gaps persist in understanding the factors driving RCC engagement and the dynamic mechanisms through which these centers influence daily recovery well-being. This dissertation addresses these gaps through two primary research questions, utilizing data from the Recovery Community Center Study and Recovery General Study. The first question is whether person-level recovery resources, encompassing social support (e.g., recovery-oriented networks), physical assets (e.g., housing stability, income), personal skills (e.g., education, recovery identity), predict RCC membership. Analysis that addresses this question explores demographic and clinical predictors, including age, gender, race, socioeconomic status, substance use histories, co-occurring mental health disorders, and criminal justice involvement, to identify who engages with RCCs and why. The second question is whether these recovery resources moderate the within-person associations between daily RCC experiences, specifically time spent at RCCs, perceived helpfulness of engagement, and utilization of RCC services (e.g., recovery coaching, support groups), and key recovery well-being outcomes, including drug craving, meaningfulness, negative affect, and recovery commitment. Employing baseline surveys and a 10-day daily diary design, the study reveals that older age, more extensive substance use histories, and criminal justice involvement significantly predict RCC membership, suggesting RCCs attract individuals with complex recovery needs and systemic challenges. Social support and recovery identity, however, did not predict membership. On the day-level, daily RCC experiences, particularly perceived helpfulness of RCC visits, seem to robustly enhance meaningfulness, reduce negative affect, and strengthen recovery commitment, consistent with the Social Identity Model of Recovery (SIMOR) and recovery resources framework. While RCC experiences did not directly reduce daily drug craving, person-level recovery resources moderated these within-person effects, amplify recovery for those with abundant resources and compensate for deficits through different mechanisms. These findings highlight RCCs’ dual role as augmentative hubs for resource-rich individuals and compensatory hubs for those facing barriers, offering practical implications for tailoring RCC programming to diverse populations. By advancing the evidence base for RCCs as equitable, community-based recovery systems, this study informs strategies to optimize engagement, address disparities, and promote sustained well-being across varied recovery contexts.