Assessing Social Work's Contribution to Controlled Outcome Studies in the Alcohol Dependence Treatment Literature

ABSTRACT

Alcohol use disorders are among the most prevalent and disabling conditions encountered by social work practitioners. Although a substantial body of research findings has accrued evaluating the effectiveness of available alcohol dependence treatments, few efforts have been made to assess the contribution that social work has made to this database. Thus, this study examined the contribution of social work to the alcohol dependence treatment outcome research literature over the past half-century. Controlled investigations of alcohol dependence treatments published between 1950 and 2000 were analyzed by publication outlet type and primary author's professional affiliation. Computerized bibliographic searches of medical and social science databases were conducted and a manual search of 13 core social work journals to identify controlled studies of alcohol dependence interventions. Results indicate that researchers affiliated with schools or departments of social work as well as studies contained within core social work journals have contributed little to knowledge development, with respect to controlled studies, in the alcohol dependence treatment literature. Greater social work involvement in chemical dependency research would contribute much to current efforts to promote evidence-based practice and clinical guideline development in this important practice area.     

Women's Perceptions of Alcohol-Related Sexual Disinhibition: Personality and Sexually-Related Alcohol Expectancies

ABSTRACT

Scales assessing attitude toward condoms typically focus on their use for a specific context or outcome (sexually transmitted diseases/HIV prevention or pregnancy prevention) and not the characteristics of a condom itself. To assess the psychometrics of the Multi-Factor Attitude toward Condoms Scale, data from 1,832 U.S. men were analyzed. Internal consistency was acceptable (α= .816) with three factors accounting for 61.44% of the variance (affective, perceived effectiveness, and manageability). Additional validity assessments demonstrated construct validity for this new attitude toward condoms scale that focuses on the properties of the condom and not a specific behavioral or outcome-focused context.     

中国大学英语学习者中介语动词结构陋用之管窥

对二语/外语动词习得的研究通常围绕动词形态的习得顺序来进行,但本文主要从动词和其它词的搭配着手研究中国大学英语学习者英语动词结构的习得。利用两个大型语料库定量对比了cost、survive和adapt三个常用动词在本族语英语和中国大学英语学习者中介语中的使用情况,发现后者中有较严重的滥用、少用和误用现象,以此我们可以管窥大学英语学习者中介语中动词结构的使用特征。导致这一情况的两个主要原因是培训迁移和母语迁移。     

贵州生物质能源的发展与利用

生物质能源作为二十一世纪最具潜力的绿色能源。以其可再生和环保等优点而引起研究者的广泛注意。贵州拥有丰富的生物质能源资源,发展生物质能源具有明显优势。文章从沼气,燃料乙醇和生物柴油等三种典型生物质能源出发,论述其在我省发展的现状与潜力。     

魏晋风度的身体表达

魏晋名士以追求自我身心愉悦为人生宗旨,啸歌、裸裎、服药、饮酒等种种身体行为成为他们日常生活的一部分,并以此构成了魏晋风度的外在表达形式。如此种种与个体感性价值相关的行为,是自我生命本质的外在流露,是对"宁做我"观念的现实阐释,从而成为了他们的人格标识。     

Forcible,Drug-Facilitated,and Incapacitated Rape and Sexual Assault Among Undergraduate Women

Abstract

Objective: To examine the prevalence of drug-related sexual assaults, identify the frequency of assaults that occur following voluntary versus involuntary drug or alcohol consumption, and identify contextual correlates of drug-related assaults. Participants: College-student females (n = 314). Methods: Volunteers reported experiences with forcible and drug-related sexual assaults in the spring semester of 2004. Follow-up queries regarding the most severe drug-related assaults determined whether the assaults followed voluntary or involuntary alcohol or drug consumption. Results: 29.6% (n = 93) of the respondents reported a drug-related sexual assault or rape; 5.4% (n = 17) reported a forcible sexual assault or rape. Voluntary incapacitation preceded 84.6% of drug-related assaults and involuntary incapacitation preceded 15.4% of drug-related assaults. The majority of drug-related assaults (96.1%) involved alcohol consumption prior to assault. Conclusions: Drug-related sexual assaults on college campuses are more frequent than are forcible assaults and are most frequently preceded by voluntary alcohol consumption.     

Risk Perceptions and Alcohol Consumption among Young People

Swedish cross-sectional survey data on young individuals was used to analyse the determinants of perceived risks of alcohol use and how these perceptions relate to drinking behaviour. Three major conclusions were drawn: (1) that people overestimate the risks of alcoholism, (2) that these risk perceptions fall substantially with age, but nevertheless imply risk overestimation, and (3) that education about alcohol, narcotics and tobacco leads individuals to perceive risks more correctly and to have lower risk beliefs. An additional finding was that individuals with higher perceived risks were less likely to consume alcohol. Equations were estimated both separately and simultaneously.     

The complexity of roles in community action projects: The example of the evaluation of ‘alternatives’

Evaluation of community interventions is a special form of evaluation involving many roles that are key to accomplishing both the intervention and the accompanying research. The present paper describes the roles involved in the evaluation of a community intervention (‘Alternatives’) aimed at safer use of alcohol and depressant medications by seniors.The three core roles were the community developer who provided leadership in the implementation of the project, the researcher/evaluator, and the community committee that sanctioned and facilitated the project. Other roles on the project included: the project coordinator, the nurse-interviewers who collected the survey data for the evaluation, volunteers from seniors groups, local health service providers, the media, the funders, and others on the project team who provided specific technical expertise.The paper describes the competing interests among these roles as well as conflicts that arose and how these conflicts were handled. Although specific roles are described, the types of roles and the potential for competing interests and conflict are generally relevant to community level evaluations.     

Microaggressions,perceptions of campus climate,mental health,and alcohol use among first-year college students of color

Depressive and anxiety symptoms are increasingly common, and problematic alcohol use remains prevalent in college. To expand on prior research on mostly white samples, we surveyed first-year students of color from our predominately white university (Southeastern US) to identify risk factors for mental health symptoms and potentially co-occurring problematic alcohol use. Results showed significant associations between microaggressions and poor campus climate (hypothetical predictors) with depressive, anxiety, somatic symptoms (hypothetical outcomes) that were indirectly linked through perceived stress, poor sleep, and academic burnout (hypothetical mediators). Poor campus climate, academic burnout, and using alcohol to cope were the most relevant to alcohol use disorder symptoms. Results support efforts to address and reduce racial microaggressions and promote a positive campus climate for all.     

Wage and Non-Wage Compensation Among Young Alcoholic and Heavy Drinking Women: A Preliminary Analysis

The association between drinking and selected job characteristics among women aged 24 to 31 is examined. Using the 1989 NLSY, women are classified as alcohol abusers or dependent based on DSM-III-R criteria or as heavy drinkers based on reported frequency of six or more drinks. Heavy drinking is negatively associated with wage and non-wage compensation. These effects diminish when human capital measures are controlled. Current alcoholism and current and past heavy drinking are strongly negatively associated with years of schooling. The association between alcoholism and job compensation and characteristics is not as strong as that seen for heavy drinking. It is not known if this is a consequence of errors in identifying alcoholic women in population-based surveys.