Urging college alcohol and drug policies that target adverse behavior, not use

Although "zero tolerance" policies are being enacted on campuses nationwide, these policies may not be the most effective means of creating safer and healthier environments for students. Many historical precedents illustrate the value of moderation over prohibition. College drug and alcohol policies should focus primarily on dysfunctional and disruptive student behaviors, not on student drug and alcohol use only.     

A condom skill scale: assessing condom skills among female drug users

Use of latex condoms is a primary form of sexual risk reduction, and consequently many intervention programs have focused efforts on increasing condom use among high-risk populations. Use alone, however, will not fully protect the individual if condoms are not used correctly. The objective of this study was to describe the development and properties of a scale measuring demonstrated condom use skill using a sample of 261 drug-using women. Guttman's coefficient of reproducibility and Jackson's Plus Percentage Ratio (PPR) were used to determine the scalability of the Condom Skill Scale (CSS). Analysis of scale scores revealed high levels of condom skill among the population, although there was reduced performance for three items. Preliminary analysis suggests that the CSS is a potentially valid and reliable instrument, and may have application as a tool assessing condom skill level.     

A general causal model to guide alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug prevention: assessing the research evidence

The problems associated with the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD) extract a significant health, social, and economic toll on American society. While the field of substance abuse prevention has made great strides during the past decade, two major challenges remain. First, the field has been disorganized and fragmented with respect to its research and prevention practices; that is, there are often separate ATOD prevention "specialists." Second, both the prevention researchers who test the efficacy of specific prevention strategies and the practitioners who implement prevention efforts often lack an overall perspective to guide strategy selection. To address these limitations, we present an ATOD causal model that seeks to identify those variables (Domains) that are theoretically salient and empirically connected across alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs. For the researcher, the model demonstrates important commonalities, as well as gaps, in the literature. For the practitioner, the model is a means to recognize both the complexity of the community system that produces ATOD problems and the multiple intervention points that are possible within this system. Researchers and practitioners are thus challenged to work synergistically to find effective and cost-effective approaches to change or reduce ATOD use and associated problems.     

Triangulation and Theoretical Understanding

The more recent interpretation of triangulation in social and educational research was summarised and examined with reference to theory triangulation applied in an empirical study. The construction of special educational needs (SEN) from the individual experiences of a sample of SEN co‐ordinators and SEN teachers, parents, and adolescents with emotional and behavioural difficulties or physical disabilities were interpreted from the perspectives of personal construct theory, bio‐psycho‐social model, socio‐psychological analysis, bioecological model of human development and a developmental model of self‐understanding. Their points of convergence and divergence enriched and extended theoretical understanding. The focus on the ‘verstehen’ psychological level of analysis and on forging closer theory, concept and data connections influenced the range of theory choice. This instance of theory triangulation casts doubts on the Duhem‐Quine thesis of underdetermination.     

Understanding corruption

Abstract

Like many governments across the globe, the Australian Government has embarked on major healthcare reforms. Part of this reform agenda included the establishment of sixty-two primary healthcare organisations (PHOs) originally called Medicare Locals (MLs), currently to be re-structured as primary healthcare networks. Primary health organisations were tasked with the coordination of primary health care delivery and with tackling local healthcare needs and service gaps. They were to drive improvements in primary healthcare and ensure that services are better tailored and integrated to meet the needs of local communities. This article puts forward the argument that new primary healthcare organisations have the potential and the ethical aspects of healthcare organisations are largely overlooked in the literature. To address this gap we outline two complementary frameworks: a theory of ethical communities and an emancipatory method. We conclude that these frameworks could be used as potential guides for new healthcare organisations to become transformative organisations.     

Personality, drug preference, drug use, and drug availability

This study examined the relationship between drug preference, drug use, drug availability, and personality among individuals (n = 100) in treatment for substance abuse in an effort to replicate the results of an earlier study (Feldman, Kumar, Angelini, Pekala, & Porter, 2007) designed to test prediction derived from Eysenck's (1957, 1967) theories. Drug preference was measured by the method of paired-comparison and personality was measured with the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire-50 CC. Contrary to expectations, high compared with low scorers on Sociability and Impulsive-Sensation Seeking preferred depressants. Surprisingly, low compared with high scorers on neuroticism did not differ in preference for alcohol. As in the previous study, drug preference, use, and availability were highly correlated, although ease of availability was slightly more predictive of drug use than drug preference. Clinical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Birth weight and mothers' adverse employment change

Low birth weight has been linked at the aggregate level to unemployment rates and at the individual level to subjective distress. We hypothesize that maternal underemployment, including unemployment, involuntary part-time work, and low wage work predicts decreased birth weight. The relationship of birth weight to maternal employment changes during pregnancy was studied prospectively in 1,165 singleton first births in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data set. Controlling for other significant risk factors, women who shifted from adequate employment to underemployment had significantly lighter babies. Plausible mediators of this relationship were explored, including prenatal health care, gestational age, and mother's weight gain, with results varying by type of underemployment. Two interactions also suggested that underemployment reduced the beneficial effect of mother's weight gain on birth weight. These findings were partially replicated for low birth weight (< 2,500 grams), indicating the medical significance of the effect.     

Assessment for and response to adverse childhood experiences

Literature strongly suggests that early exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) disrupts crucial normal stages of childhood development and predisposes these individuals to subsequent psychiatric sequelae. Even with these data, little is found in nursing literature that discusses ACEs and their impact on adult mental health. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to address how nurses approach communication with clients about and assess for traumatic life experiences. In addition, screening measures for ACEs will be presented, along with discussion about ethical responsibilities of health professionals and researchers in asking about abuse.     

大学生同性恋群体调查报告

大学生是国家的未来,而同性恋群体则是游离于主流文化的亚文化群体。作为两者交集的大学生同性恋群体在逐渐浮出＂水面＂的过程中已经获得了越来越多来自社会的关注。本文旨在根据笔者参与的2007年度C市大学生同性恋群体生存状况调查的基本数据和访谈资料,从多维视角出发,运用定量—定性研究相结合的方法,通过对大学生同性恋群体自我身份认同、性爱观念、同性性交易情况的分析,探求大学生同性恋群体在当今社会的真实生存状态,并据此提出一些可行性建议。     

Understanding emerging disabilities

This research seeks to understand social and environmental characteristics that distinguish emerging from traditional disability populations. We qualitatively analysed how emerging disabilities are understood by persons with disabilities, and used these themes with a public use data source to analyse differences between emerging and traditional disabilities. Our findings first illustrate the difficulty in diagnosing and categorizing emerging disabilities. This is true for both persons who have these conditions and medical personnel who are expected to interpret them. Compared with persons with traditional disabilities, persons with emerging disabilities had less education, greater difficulties with activities of daily living, lower income, less private insurance, more frequent medical care and were less likely to work. The picture emerges of that of an underclass within society. There is an ongoing need for a referral and support system with greater recognition and acceptance of all disabilities, especially within independent living centers and among employers.     

Understanding governmental activism

This article seeks to understand an understudied phenomenon: governmental players joining forces with non-governmental players in contentious actions against policies they want to prevent or redress. This behaviour, which we call ‘governmental activism’, problematizes important assumptions in the social movement literature on state–SMO dichotomies and on seeing ‘the state’ as a homogeneous and unified actor that solely provides the context for SMO activities. Governmental activism also problematizes assumptions on cooperation and ‘new’ modes of coordination in the governance literature. To understand governmental activism, we build on the strategic interaction perspective from social movement studies and on third-phase institutionalism from political science. In our analysis, we show the particulars of governmental activism. Our arguments are illustrated by empirical material on a case of municipal amalgamation in the Netherlands.