Although the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) have operated for years, little is known about utilization of program foods by participants. Using ethnographic interviews, this study examined food use, factors affecting use, and satisfaction among WIC and CSFP clients. WIC foods were consumed by most participants, but frequently not in the total amount. Four of seven WIC foods were found to be substitutions for foods previously consumed. CSFP foods were consumed less frequently, and in smaller amounts, than WIC foods. Intra-household sharing, but not substitution, was prevalent. Major factors affecting food use were taste preference, food habit, convenience, amount and knowledge. Clients expressed greater satisfaction with WIC versus CSFP foods. The results indicate that provision of supplemental foods does not guarantee use, and that significant barriers to use exist. Nutrition education is recommended as a means of increasing food use.

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Previous analyses of homelessness have been accused of lacking theoretical and conceptual clarity. This study aimed to rectify this through an analysis of data collected using a qualitative longitudinal research methodology on the transitions through homelessness made by twenty-eight people in a Scottish city. Three key factors were found to influence the transitions the participants made – the access to different forms of capital (the resources) they had; their social networks and relationships; and experiences of ‘edgework’ (experiences of traumatic risk situations, such as domestic violence; or of voluntary risk taking such as drug use; that encapsulate the need to negotiate risk on both emotional and physical levels). These factors may affect anyone’s lives, but only when their resources are depleted to the point they have to rely on the state in this way do they become ‘homeless’ and enter the material and emotional ‘reality ‘ of homelessness. This is the new theory on homelessness, causation and individual actions, developed here – the ‘stressed’ theory. By the end of the research the majority of the participants (nineteen) were living in their own tenancies. It may have appeared that those who had their own tenancy had made integrative transitional passages out of homelessness, however the majority of the participants were actually found to be ‘flip-flopping’ on the edge of society, whether still homeless or not. When the fundamental structural reality they operated in had not changed, their risk of homelessness and the motivation for actions that appeared to have led to their homelessness, remained. Actions they engaged in to assert their agency were also actions that were motivated by, and then recreated, the structural reality they operated within – a reality of marginality and a poverty of resources. This was also what provided the rationale for actions that may appear irrational, such as drug use, in the face of making a transition out of homelessness. A key aspect of these transitions however was that desp

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An investigation was carried out into all drug-related deaths that occurred within the Strathclyde Police region of Scotland over the 17-year period, 1985-2001. Deaths involving heroin, methadone, dihydrocodeine or cocaine were the focus of this thesis. In total, more than 1,000 cases were reviewed. By extracting data from the toxicology report and police sudden death report, changes in patterns and trends of drug misuse were highlighted which coincided with concurrent changes to legislation and medical care. This is a novel approach to the investigation of drug-related deaths within this jurisdication. Over the study period 869 heroin positive drug-related deaths were identified, in 95% of which what drug was the sole or the major contributory causal factor. The majority of these deaths involved males. The average age of all individuals increased slightly from 26 years to 29 years over the study period. The individual had a history of drug misuse in 95% of cases and of those, 92% were known to abuse drugs intravenously. Approximately one quarter of individuals resided alone and over one-half resided with other people, primarily their parents or (common law) partners/spouses. The individual was homeless in 14% of cases. Of this group, 70% resided in a hostel. The remainder had no fixed abode. Of cases where the postal code was known, 74% resided within the Greater Glasgow Health Board area. In the last year of the study deaths of individuals residing in the Ayrshire and Arran Health Board area increased sharply compared to a decrease in deaths reported in all other areas. Approximately two-thirds of individuals resided in areas of high deprivation (categories 6 and 7). The locus where the body was found was primarily in a dwelling (73%), usually the individual’s own home. From the circumstances surrounding the deaths it was ascertained that the individual was alone at the time of death in just under half the cases, highlighting the risk of taking drugs in isolation.