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Table 2 Illustrative quotes for positive benefits theme

From: Feasibility of a computer-assisted social network motivational interviewing intervention to reduce substance use and increase supportive connections among emerging adults transitioning from homelessness to housing

Theme

Participant quotes

Learning/new insights

[BT12]: “It would maybe make you realize more.”

[BT13]: “The possibility’s always there that it can make them more aware and change their life”

[BT14]: “Just how everybody that I talk to is connected. It made me think about their relationship… And I was over here thinking I wonder what their relationship’s like?”

[BT31]: “And it made me kind of learn that I actually have to go through with my goals.”

[BT31]: “I learned who supports me and who I can depend on.”

[BT12]: “Made me realize…my community that I reach out to and stay connected to.”

[BT11]:“It doesn’t offer a solution. It just offers a note of self-awareness but it doesn’t offer any solutions. If they just have that information but no way to change it, then they’re not going to make a change.”

Enhancement of motivation to change

[BT31]: “I benefitted from it and I've been here for seven months and I want to change.”

[BT32:] “You might learn something and you might change your outcome—your outcome might change your whole entire life.”

[BT13]: “It can make them more aware and change their life”

[BT12]: “It depends like your point of view, how motivated you are”

[BT14]: (Q: would it be interesting to see what the change is?) “It’d be interesting. Very interesting because it’s definitely going to change, at least for me it would change a lot because I’m always doing different things. There’s weeks where I’m here a lot, weeks where I’m out a lot, like you’re at school or looking for a job…So there’s just a lot of people that I actually talk to.”

[BT11]:[counter example]: “If they just have that information but no way to change it, then they’re not going to make a change.”

Making AOD changes

[BT31]: “Anybody who wants to make a change in their life and is willing to stop their substance abuse or anything, I feel like they can benefit from it.”

[BT32:] “People that are reluctant to talk about their substance abuse would be more open to doing so in this format.”

[BT11]: “Just thinking about who do I talk to on a daily basis. Are they supportive in my life? If I was in that mindset, would I use with these people and would they enable me to use with them? It was good to think about that.”

Building social support

[BT11]: “That might give them the motivation they need to get someone in their life that they can rely on…they can start creating a stable foundation for themselves if they’re unhappy with their support or lack of support in their life currently.”

[BT13]: “I think it would help them adjust…Like how much you really interact with those people and whether or not they’re going to be helpful at the moment or if they’re going through it themselves, or if they’re an enabler, or just those people that are genuinely supportive and will continue to be supportive.”

[BT31]: “I wish—like there's a boy… who used to be here. He had a substance abuse problem, a drinking problem, and he just got exited. I wish that this would have been there when he was here, because I know he personally could have benefited from this and I know that he needs it… he has a problem and he needed help and this probably would have helped. And it would have made him realize everyone who supports him and you know, how to cut people out and it would have—he would have benefitted so much from it. And I just wish he could have did it.”

Usefulness to some but not others

[BT12]: “It depends like your point of view, how motivated you are.”

[BT13]: “For me personally, it’s not really helpful for me as an individual...I got my own whole plan that I don’t necessarily share with anybody…for somebody else that hasn’t really thought about it too much and is not as aware as I am, I think it would be a lot more helpful for them. I see that it can do a lot of good and really help other people…It depends on who they are, the little bit of information that they divulge, I guess.”

[BT13]: “But there’s a lot of people that I know that could really benefit from this type of thing because it really puts it out there how these relationships with certain people affect everything.”

[BT13]: “If you’re willing to really take into consideration everything that is given to you clearly on the diagrams and all that, and makes you want to change your environment; then yeah, I think it would really help.”

[BT13]: “The possibility’s always there that it can make them more aware and change their life, I guess.”

[BT13]: “For a majority of people that come through here, I think it would be helpful for some. For—yeah, for most, actually.”

[BT14]: “It would be good for somebody who’s been here a while.”

[BT31]: “Maybe for other people, like I'm pretty advanced and I'm pretty smart. So, I get things more than an average person does. So, I can't judge. I don't really know a lot of these people here. So, maybe you could do it like more intuitive for people who don't understand but also not make it too complicated.”

[BT31]: “Yeah, I mean, if anybody is willing to make a change in their life, it's beneficial for them…But they have to want to make a change…Because you can't save somebody who doesn't want to be saved.”

[BT32]: “It’s really depending upon the person’s struggle.”

[BT32]: “It’s going to be like a challenge for those people that are trying to change their patterns, like change their life. Because if they have to name people that they don’t even associate with and they see that result, it’s like…this means nothing then.”