Promoting family-focused approaches within adult drug services: the potential of the 'Senses Framework'

Policies across countries promote family-focused engagement with adult drugs services however this is rarely offered routinely and relationships with carers are often poor. Research in mental health and older people's services suggests that improving the relationships between carers and service providers is fundamental to enhancing the quality of services. One example is the Senses Framework which assesses the extent to which services are relationship-centred and provides deeper insight into the areas that require further improvement. The aim of this paper is to establish the extent to which relationship-centred care, as defined by the Senses Framework, is expressed in the interactions between carers, services providers and policy makers in adult drug service settings.