"The responsibility to inform, the power to act": a conference for New England college newspaper editors on the role of the campus press in addressing substance use issues.

College newspapers are a powerful but underutilized medium for educating students on health issues, including those related to drug and alcohol use on campus. Editors of these publications are in a position to wield significant influence among their readers. In addition to communicating factual information about the prevalence and impact of substance use among college students, editors can use the press to advocate changes in students' attitudes and behaviors and in college or community policies that affect substance use. A pilot conference was held to help New England college newspaper editors perceive the importance of their role in educating their peers about substance use and other health-related issues, and to offer concrete suggestions as to how they can incorporate these topics into an "activist" campus press.     

A systematic analysis of college substance use policies

College substance use policies provide guidelines for student behavior and influence campus culture. Although they are the primary environmental strategy to address campus substance use, policies have not been systematically compared and studied. We constructed a systematic review method to examine the accessibility, comprehensiveness, enforcement procedures, and clarity of college substance use policies. We developed an objective evaluation scheme for each of these 4 dimensions and then applied it to documented substance use policies from a sample of colleges and universities (N = 24). Policies were found to vary considerably but tended to specify compliance with local laws and emphasize student health and well-being. The next stage of campus policy review should examine actual implementation, evaluate potential differentiating factors among institutions, and assess the influence of policy on campus climate and student outcomes.     

A Systematic Analysis of College Substance Use Policies

College substance use policies provide guidelines for student behavior and influence campus culture. Although they are the primary environmental strategy to address campus substance use, policies have not been systematically compared and studied. We constructed a systematic review method to examine the accessibility, comprehensiveness, enforcement procedures, and clarity of college substance use policies. We developed an objective evaluation scheme for each of these 4 dimensions and then applied it to documented substance use policies from a sample of colleges and universities (N = 24). Policies were found to vary considerably but tended to specify compliance with local laws and emphasize student health and well-being. The next stage of campus policy review should examine actual implementation, evaluate potential differentiating factors among institutions, and assess the influence of policy on campus climate and student outcomes.     

The social constructions of drug users in professional interventions

This qualitative study analyses the construction of a subject who uses drugs (injected drugs) so as to offer psychosocial proposals for social healthcare interventions within this collective, and thereby contribute to social healthcare policies that optimise treatment for drug use. The results indicate that identity is connected to positions that are activated in interactions and relationships between users and professionals in various day-to-day contexts of healthcare and treatment. We have labelled these activated positions: therapeutic, drug-sensory, consumerist, legal-repressive and group-community. Understanding them provides clues that may improve interventions in health and legal contexts. These clues include understanding the tensions between the subject and the substance, considering the stigmatised image and identity, and supporting the idea of the existence of dilemmas in users and professionals, as this may allow transformations to occur in the mutual relationships that are established.     

Research outcomes of prenatal substance exposure and the need to review policies and procedures regarding child abuse reporting

Research on the outcomes of drug-exposed children evinces elevated developmental risks from the interaction of subtle biological vulnerabilities and compromised parenting. States, however, have generally not reviewed the procedures and policies they developed in the early 1990s when there was less research and experience with these children. At that time the gravest risks related to perinatal substance exposure seemed to be excessively punitive treatment of mothers by over-zealous criminal justice prosecutors. This article clarifies policy options for reporting and serving children who are born testing positive for controlled substances and also calls for strengthening existing state policies regarding child abuse reporting and response.     

International migration policies: conceptual problems

Kritz reviews national concepts and policies of migration. She examines how nation-states approach migration and how they define who is a migrant. Policies for permanent, temporary, and illegal migrants are examined for selected countries. While the traditional permanent immigration countries--Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the US--continue to admit large numbers of permanent migrants, they are also admitting growing numbers of temporary migrants. Other countries, in Europe and the developing world, have different migration histories and use other approaches to admit foreigners--migrants are generally admitted on a temporary basis for work or other purposes. Growing numbers of these temporary migrants, however, do become long-term or permanent settlers, and the distinction between permanent and temporary migration policies becomes a short-term legal one rather than a long-term sociological one. Governments have been seeking those policy instruments that would allow them to improve control over who enters and settles in their territories, and temporary migration policies are the measures to which they are turning. While increasing restriction characterizes the policy stance of most countries toward international migration, this does not necessarily mean that the number of migrants entering is declining. Kritz argues that the concepts employed by countries in their immigration policies frequently do not correspond to the reality, making it necessary to examine the actual context.     

What if you caught them using? Prospective teachers' beliefs about responding to student substance use

This survey research examined how prospective teachers' (N=384) beliefs about the nature of adolescence, their substance use, and their preparedness for dealing with substance use situations are linked to perceptions of how they would respond to students' possession or use of cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana at school. Results suggested that prospective teachers are not prepared for these situations. Feeling prepared, perceiving that few adolescents engage in problem behavior, and low personal substance use were associated with more responses to substance use situations. Women were more likely than men to think they would respond to adolescent substance use yet they felt less prepared. Males who used alcohol, cigarettes, or marijuana recently were the least likely to perceive that they would respond to adolescents using substances at school.     

Gay and Lesbian Youth:

Social policy tends to reflect community standards regarding a population's individual rights, expected conduct, and entitlement to public services. Populations, therefore, must be defined and acknowledged by their communities and by their policy makers if they are to be included in these codified standards Lesbian and gay youth have yet to be clearly defined as a population. The origins and subsequent development of the current lesbian and gay movement offer a framework in which to consider future efforts to change social policy regarding lesbian and gay youth. The lesbian and gay community, despite the significant loss of leadership and experience as the result of AIDS, have continued its development as a force for social change. Organizations such as Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, and other groups focused on combating bigotry and expanding civil rights, are of crucial importance to the future of lesbian and gay youth and to the development of enlightened policy. The sooner enlightened policies are developed, the sooner these youngsters will be able to lead happier, healthier, and more productive lives.     

Migration Governance and Policy in the Global South: Introduction and Overview

Building knowledge about migration governance and policy in the Global South is a priority for research and policy. The studies in this special section offer both new empirical insights and new frameworks for analysis, with key policy implications, that can enrich our discussion of these topics. They focus on issues that relate to national and sub‐national level governance and policy, speaking both to the impact of diverse governance structures and policies on the well‐being of migrants and host communities, and of the policy‐making process itself and the factors influencing that process. In so doing, they point toward promising directions for future work on these topics and underscore the value of multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and cross‐regional analysis. This essay provides an introduction to the studies included in this collection, framing their contributions in the context of research in development and ongoing global discussions on migration policy.     

Social Media Policy in Social Work Education: A Review and Recommendations

Although social media use has grown dramatically, program policies have not kept pace. Some programs now state that student social media activities have led to professional conduct reviews and may violate ethical standards. This article reviews current social media policies and conceptualizes their key elements. A review of current social media policies is reported, pointing to the need for further policy development. Six domains of a social media policy are identified: understanding social media, ethical and legal obligations, implications of one’s personal and professional online presence, institutional obligations to the program and agency, productivity implications, and possible consequences for violations of the policy. A model social media policy is detailed, and unresolved issues are identified.     

Caring for Persons with Serious Mental Illness

Abstract

This article places evidenced-based knowledge of practice within the social context of care and proposes five policy objectives and specific policy and program changes to address care needs of people with serious mental illness. In spite of demonstration programs that provide the basis for proposed policy initiatives throughout the United States, treatment provision for this population remains inadequate and their safety and well-being continues to be at risk. The authors suggest that treatment initiatives need to be tied to stable policies protecting the mentally ill from adverse social context changes. The authors conclude that policies are needed that will enhance housing assistance, independent social functioning, personal empowerment, and treatment engagement. In addition, efforts are needed to make better use of inpatient hospital care, to better understand the role of assisted treatment, and to better develop consistent long-term fiscal support for the seriously mentally ill. They offer specific policy recommendations for changes in HUD programs, Medicaid and Medicare funding, and treatment programming that address these needs.     

Intergenerational Trauma Among Substance-Using Native American,Latina, and White Mothers Living in the Southwestern United States

The high rates of traumatic experiences reported by women who use alcohol and drugs have been documented in the literature. This study builds on the existing literature by examining the experiences of intergenerational family loss trauma among 226 mothering female substance users from 3 racial and ethnic groups: Native American (26.5%), Latina (24.8%), and White (48.7%). Demographic information, substance use, intergenerational exposure to mothering, and other family traumatic losses were compared across racial and ethnic groups. Data indicate both similarities and significant differences in demographic characteristics, type of drug use, and traumatic family loss experiences—with a higher percentage of Native American women reporting instances of intergenerational family loss. The extent of intergenerational family traumatic loss among women who use substances is discussed, along with social policies that perpetuate such loss. Recommendations for effectively intervening at the individual, family, and policy levels are presented.     

Dual Relationships: The Challenges for Social Workers in Recovery

ABSTRACT

Over the last ten years there is increasing focus in social work literature about non-sexual dual relationships. This has included consideration of different types of dual relationships that occur primarily during or after the establishment of professional social worker-client relationship. However, the specific concerns facing social workers who are themselves in recovery from substance use disorders remain absent from these discussions. This article identifies challenges facing social workers in recovery from substance use disorders who also work with clients dealing with these disorders. Recommended actions and policies that can assist professionals and agencies in balancing personal and practice issues are presented.     

SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND SLOW-MOTION DISASTERS: The Case of Detroit

In this article, I focus on problem substance use as one outcome of an underlying, "slow-motion disaster" caused by the long-term collision between corrosive structural processes, counterproductive social policies, and vulnerable populations. Using the city of Detroit as an illustration, I offer an original conceptual model for linking the causes and cascading consequences of slow-motion disasters. This model highlights the embedded connections between structural factors, such as racial segregation and systemic unemployment, and multiple destructive outcomes, including health and crime disparities, as well as problem substance use. Finally, I conclude that sociological researchers must engage with broader publics and diverse coalitions if they are to contribute to an alternative social policy—a holistic, regional "disaster response"—that takes multiple layers of causality into account, and addresses the core of vulnerabilities that make such disasters possible.     

Re-assembling climate change policy: Materialism,posthumanism, and the policy assemblage

National and international policy-makers have addressed threats to environmental sustainability from climate change and other environmental degradation for over 30 years. However, it is questionable whether current policies are socially, politically, economically, and scientifically capable of adequately resolving these threats to the planet and living organisms. In this paper we theorize and develop the concept of a “policy assemblage” from within a new materialist ontology, to interrogate critically four policy perspectives on climate change: “liberal environmentalism”; the United Nations policy statements on sustainable development; “green capitalism” (also known as “climate capitalism”) and finally “no-growth economics.” A materialist analysis of interactions between climate change and policies enables us to establish what each policy can do, what it ignores or omits, and consequently its adequacy to address environmental sustainability in the face of climate change. None, we conclude, is adequate or appropriate to address climate change successfully. We then use this conceptual tool to establish a “posthuman” policy on climate change. Humans, from this perspective, are part of the environment, not separate from or in opposition to it, but possess unique capacities that we suggest are now necessary to address climate change. This ontology supplies the starting point from which to establish sociologically a scientifically, socially, and politically adequate posthuman climate change policy. We offer suggestions for the constituent elements of such a policy.     

The impact of the "I'm Special" Program on student substance abuse and other related student problem behavior

There has been a proliferation of school-based substance abuse prevention programs geared toward reducing or delaying the onset of student use of illegal drugs. But the field has shown a general absence of evaluation dealing with the behavior consequences of these practices. This article fills this gap by using the case of the "I'm Special" Program (ISP) targeted for fourth grade students. Using a quasi-experimental design, a comparison is made between the substance using and other problem behavior of students who have been exposed to the ISP and those who have not during their later school years in grades 5 through 12. At the aggregate level, the proportions of current substance users and the incidence of their related problem behavior were significantly lower among the ISP graduates than those who have not been exposed to the program. In particular, there were consistently lower proportions of current substance users among the ISP recipients than the non-recipients in grades 5-7. However, the impact of the ISP seems to diminish significantly in and around ninth grade. During the senior high level, the pattern revealed is almost random. And, in some drug categories, it has been speculated that the ISP students were trying to "catch up" with what they may have missed out on during earlier grade levels.     

Does knowledge of college drinking policy influence student binge drinking?

The authors explored alcohol policies at 5 historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to gain an understanding of how students' awareness of these policies might correlate with campus binge drinking rates. Findings indicated that male students who reported being unaware of certain alcohol policies were more likely to report binge drinking than their counterparts who reported they were aware of the policies. Gender differences in awareness of alcohol policy might be an important variable influencing binge drinking on HBCU campuses.     

Political origin and persistence of industrial policy in Africa

ABSTRACT

The literature on industrial policy in Africa has generally explained its political origins in terms of ruling elites’ distribution of benefits to their supporters. However, in competitive political contexts in which policies are deeply political and designed to satisfy clients, such as policies that support party donors, the problem of policy discontinuity is bound to arise because a change in ruling party is bound to alter the direction of distributional policies. The current paper uses Nigeria’s backward integration policy (BIP), an industrial policy on cement production, to sharpen the analytical distinction between the origins and persistence. Although the ruling elites’ political quest for survival explains the origin of Nigeria’s industrial policy on cement (ruling elites were in search of re-election funds and teamed up with domestic capitalists for donations, who in turn influenced the political elites to create policies in their area of business), it does not explain the continuation.     

Beliefs and Behaviors of Pregnant Women with Addictions Awaiting Treatment Initiation

Substance use during pregnancy poses clear risks to children’s healthy development. However, women with addictions face unique barriers to accessing substance abuse treatment and often delay or avoid treatment seeking. The objective of this study was to examine women’s beliefs about the impact of use on the developing baby and to examine the protective behaviors that women with addictions engage in during the period of time between when they first find out they are pregnant and when they begin substance abuse treatment. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 women who were either pregnant or postpartum and who had used illicit substances during pregnancy. All participants were currently receiving inpatient substance abuse treatment services to address their addiction and were asked to retrospectively report on their experiences. Interviews were transcribed, imported into a qualitative data analysis software, and iteratively coded for themes. Women reported being concerned about the impact of substance use on the developing baby, in particular, about the physical and long-term developmental consequences of prenatal exposure. Given these concerns, women described trying to protect the baby from harm on their own, outside of accessing traditional treatment services. They sought information anonymously, increased their engagement in health-promoting behaviors, and decreased their use of alcohol and other drugs. The results suggest that women who use alcohol and other drugs during pregnancy are often motivated to protect their baby from harm and are engaging in harm reduction behaviors prior to accessing treatment services.     

Policies supporting participation in leisure activities for children and youth with disabilities in Canada: from policy to play

Children with disabilities are at risk for lower participation in leisure. This study maps and analyzes disability-related leisure policies in Canada. Policy mapping and analysis were performed based on scope, social justice, disability models, and use of evidence. Few policies use scientific evidence, and their scope in supporting participation is often limited to organized sports, transportation, and financial incentives/exemptions. Few policies exist to support leisure promotion for children with disabilities. Action plans, benchmarking, and uptake measurement are rarely identified. Research-based evidence can be used to support socially-just policies to promote participation in leisure. Families should be able to identify mechanisms to guarantee access to their rights. Researchers, service providers, and families can use this framework of policy mapping and analysis to identify gaps where evidence can support policy development, to use these policies where services are needed, and to foster participation of children with disabilities in leisure.