PAINWeek messages include cannabis for pain

The virtual PAINWeek meeting held this month had several poster presentations of interest to ADAW readers, as reported by Ryan Basen for MedPage Today.     

NJ governor approves medical cannabis for OUD

Last week, Gov. Phil Murphy announced that New Jersey would remove prior authorization for Medicaid for medication‐assisted treatment (MAT) and would approve opioid use disorder as an eligible indication for medical marijuana. The moves, among several announced Jan. 23 in the state's efforts to combat the opioid epidemic, would increase access to treatment. Last year, more than 3,000 individuals in the state died from overdoses. “The opioid epidemic continues to devastate families and communities across our state,” said Gov. Murphy. “As we combat this crisis, it is critical that we use data‐driven, evidence‐based strategies to support individuals suffering from addiction and help them get on the path to recovery.”     

SAMHSA grantees can't use funds for medical cannabis

Some states are adjusting their contracts to the recent edict from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) banning grantees, including Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) and State Opioid Response (SOR) grantees, from.     

Differences between medical and recreational cannabis

Every state has its own process for regulating legal cannabis, but we have been particularly interested in Massachusetts, which has a carefully structured process for regulation of both medical (established in 2013) and the recently approved recreational dispensaries — we visited a medical dispensary recently (see ADAW, June 24).     

The role of self-assessment in the regulation and inspection of group day care

This paper considers the role of self-assessment in maintaining and improving standards of day care. A pilot study designed to investigate and develop the potential contribution of self-assessment procedures in the regulation of day nurseries is described. Self-assessment materials designed for day care providers to use in assessing the quality of their care were adapted for inspection purposes. Inspection staff in four local authorities used the materials in the inspection of ten day nurseries. Results suggest that self-assessment incorporated with inspection and development work offers a means by which providers and inspectors can work together to improve standards. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Engaging children and youth in research and evaluation using group concept mapping

Group concept mapping is a systematic methodology that recognizes participants’ expertise in their own experiences. In this approach, participants share their diverse knowledge and interpret the data generated by all group members. This approach uniquely blends quantitative and qualitative techniques to create illustrative, structured conceptualizations. In this article, we describe the steps in group concept mapping and report feedback on this method from 37 children and youth who participated in group concept mapping studies. We recommend group concept mapping as an engaging way to involve children and youth in research and evaluation activities.     

Evaluation of and support for group prototypical leaders: a meta-analysis of twenty years of empirical research

The key premise of the social identity theory of leadership, that group prototypical leaders are more favorably evaluated than less prototypical leaders, is supported by twenty years of research. To establish overall how much variance in leader evaluation is attributable to leader prototypicality we conducted a meta-analysis of 35 independent studies (N = 6678). Prototypicality accounted for 24% of variance in leader evaluation. There was a large overall effect (r = .49), which was moderated by research method and type of evaluation. The relationship was stronger in correlational studies (r = .60) than experiments (r = .35), and on measures of leader trust (r = .63) than effectiveness (r = .43). Theoretical implications and future directions are discussed.     

Long-Term RCT outcomes for adolescent alcohol and cannabis use within a predominantly Hispanic sample

Because adolescents are unlikely to seek, receive, or complete treatment for alcohol and/or cannabis misuse, it is important to enhance the lasting impact of clinical contacts when they do occur. Adolescents (N = 506; 72.5% Hispanic) were randomized to motivational interviewing (MI) versus alcohol and cannabis education (ACE). Latent growth models estimated change over time. Significant reductions in alcohol use were observed, with slightly greater reductions by 12-month follow-up for MI. Both interventions significantly reduced cannabis use, with no treatment group differences. When outcomes were examined comparing Hispanic to non-Hispanic participants, there were no significant differences in intervention efficacy by group. MI's inherently client-centered and culturally adaptive approach may contribute to its equitable degree of behavior change for youth across race/ethnic backgrounds.     

Risk of teen cannabis use includes suicidality and depression

The risk at the individual level from cannabis use is moderate to low, in general. However, because so many adolescents are now consuming it, the number of young people who could develop depression and suicidality as a result is large, researchers have found. This is a problem that needs a public health policy response, they concluded in their study, “Association of Cannabis Use in Adolescence and Risk of Depression, Anxiety, and Suicidality in Young Adulthood: A Systematic Review and Meta‐analysis,” published in the February issue of JAMA Psychiatry.     

A learning process within an education research group: an approach to learning qualitative research methods

This paper builds on the history of Esbrina, an established research group in Spain with almost 20 years’ experience and a deeply-rooted tradition of self-reflection and learning. We start by analysing the academic and social contexts in which the group was created and recognised. We make explicit team members’ backgrounds, dispositions and positionalities, to provide insight into the tensions aroused in deciding research topics, methodological approaches and research methods. Then we focus on two specific projects and explore the learning processes of those engaged in them: the first involves micro-ethnography, for which we examine our apprenticeship process through interviews, observation, inferential analysis and visual documentation. The second involves collaborative ethnography, for which we give an analytical account of how we created different ways of learning through collaborating and narrating. Throughout the paper, we reflect on our determination to create a methods-learning environment in which we constantly challenge our comfort zone by trying to do research on topics involving authentic learning. The most innovative aspect of the process is that senior and junior researchers, including group directors, play both the role of teachers and learners.     

Doctors for the empire: The medical school of Goa and its narratives

This paper studies the establishment of medical teaching in Portuguese colonial settings as a means to understand the ways of empire building. The rules and regulations regarding surgeons and doctors in the African and Asian colonies evidence a structure of subalternities within the empire. Goa, in India, emerges as the second to the metropolis within that hierarchy, and the Medical School of Goa becomes the ultimate producer of doctors for the empire. We will bring to the analysis the narratives and representations of Goan doctors about their Medical School and its role in empire building. The analysis raises a number of issues that deserve further discussion: the ideologies of colonialism and the colonial condition, the formation of hierarchies within imperial structures, the tensions between social groups defined by the empire, the interaction between different bodies of knowledge and medical practices in the context of colonization, and the ambiguous position of creóle elites within a colonial system.     

High‐potency cannabis more than quadruples risk for use disorder

Higher‐potency cannabis increases the risk for the onset of the first cannabis use disorder (CUD) symptom, researchers have found. Therefore, guidelines for potency are critical for reducing negative health outcomes, they concluded, in their study published in the December issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence.     

A signal-jamming model of persuasion: interest group funded policy research

This article analyzes a simple model of policy making under uncertainty in the presence of an interest group that may fund and lobby research. In the model, if research is not disclosed via lobbying it enters the public domain and, subsequently, is randomly observed by the policy maker (PM). Consequently, the interest group strategically chooses both whether to fund research and whether to lobby it versus let it be randomly observed. The main result is that for a range of parameter values, in equilibrium the interest group sometimes funds, but never lobbies, research. This behavior effectively “jams” the public signal of the PM, making the policy choice worse on average. This occurs despite all research being unbiased. The results provide qualified theoretical support for the value of research funding transparency and implications for the interpretation of interest group funded research.     

Emotion regulation from infancy to toddlerhood: Individual and group trajectories of full-term and very-low-birthweight preterm infants

Adaptive emotion regulation begins with infants operating jointly with their parents to regulate their emotions, which fosters the development of independent regulation. Little is known about when or how this transition occurs, or the impact of factors such as parental availability or premature birth status. The current study examined the use of self-soothing, attentional distraction, and dyadic regulation in full-term and healthy very-low-birthweight (VLBW) preterm infant-mother dyads at 5 ½, 12, and 18 months of age. At 5 ½ months, dyads participated in the Still-Face procedure. At 12 and 18 months, dyads participated in two free-play interactions, a puzzle task, and an interference task. Emotion regulation behaviors were coded using two systematic, observational systems. Results indicated that infants used less self-soothing and attentional distraction and more dyadic regulation as they aged. Increased use of self-soothing at earlier ages predicted increased use of dyadic regulation at subsequent ages. Toddlers used more independent, attention-seeking, and escape behavior during periods of maternal unavailability. There were no significant differences between full-term and VLBW/preterm toddlers’ emotion regulation behaviors. Results from the current study contribute to the understanding of normative development of emotion regulation and the risk associated with prematurity.