M.A. (Social Work) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Thesis advisor: Rebekah Levine Coley / Substance abuse and dependence are among the nation's leading health issues, leading to more illnesses, disabilities, and deaths than any other modifiable health condition. Substance use among youth is of particular concern, as rates are higher than among any other age group and because early use is associated with a higher risk of later abuse and dependence and a higher incidence of related risk-taking behavior. Thus, a better understanding of the causes of substance use problems is a central issue. The primary goal of this study was to examine genetic and environmental predictors of youth alcohol and drug abuse and dependence. This study expands upon extant research by being the first to utilize a genetic risk score (GRS) approach to examine the joint effect of four dopaminergic genetic polymorphisms on substance abuse and dependence, by incorporating cumulative measures of environmental risk and promotive factors, and by examining gene-environment interactions (GxEs) and gender differences in substance use predictors, thus allowing for a more comprehensive assessment of environmental and genetic influences than has previously been attempted. Analyses were conducted on a national longitudinal sample of 1,396 Caucasian youth who participated in surveys and DNA sampling in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, with individuals followed from adolescence (ages 12-18) into early adulthood (ages 24-32). Logistic regression analyses examined main and interactive effects of cumulative environmental risk and promotive factors and genetic risk scores on clinically significant alcohol and drug abuse and dependence in early adulthood. Analyses were conducted separately for males and females to examine gender differences in substance use predictors. Results show that a dopaminergic GRS index significantly predicted the likelihood that female, but not male, youth will meet clinical criteria for substance abuse and dependence, even after accounting for cumulative environmental influences. No evidence of GxE was found. These results provide a better understanding of the etiology of substance abuse and dependence and provide evidence of the utility of GRS methods for studying genetic influences on substance use behaviors. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology.

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / Heroin usage is on the increase in the Western Cape province of South Africa owing to globalization and to increased access to the drug in this province. The goal of this study is to explore the experiences of coloured heroin users in the Metro South area of Cape Town, which stretches from Simons Town and Muizenberg to Retreat, Lavender Hill, Grassy Park, Parkwood and Wynberg. These individuals have been found to congregate in the Wynberg CBD. The overarching theoretical framework for the purpose of this research is social constructionism and symbolic interactionism, using a qualitative means of inquiry. Snowball sampling was used to recruit prospective participants and data was collected by means of in-depth interviews, with a semi structures interviewing schedule. The questions informed the subsequent themes and categories that arise from the data collection process. Snowball sampling was employed in this case, a non-probability sample, in which participants were recruited via key informants. The sample distribution included 13 participants, 10 of which were heroin users (5 female, 5 male) and the remaining 3 were key informants which contributed to triangulation of the data. In terms of the findings, participants spoke of mostly being involved in intimate relationships, which according to participants had dual benefits. For female participants intimate relationships offered a form of protection on the often dangerous streets of Wynberg and for certain males, intimate relationships offered an opportunity to fund their habit, by trading their female partners to perform sexual favors for money to acquire heroin. While the study found females were mainly involved in trading sexual favors for money, heterosexual males were also implicated in having sexual relations with homosexual men for money. Furthermore, the study found that heroin users in Wynberg represented a surrogate family, where, because of their lifestyle, they were disconnected from their own family. This family surrogate was found to be supportive, caring to a large extent, shared a living space, protective of each other and shared a common language and understanding.

Of the plethora of social problems with which government has had to contend in recent history, few have generated more controversy than the non-therapeutic use of drugs. Many of those which are currently in common use did not exist fifty years ago; but the most dramatic growth in non-therapeutic use has been experienced with a drug that man has known for centuries: marijuana.1 Known generically as Cannabis sativa, internationally as Indian hemp, popularly as marijuana, and in American slang as "pot" or "grass," the drug was introduced to the United States as an intoxicant by itinerate Mexican farm workers in the early decades of this century. The acknowledged use of marijuana in the ghettos and communities of ethnic minorities for several decades stimulated no public outcry with the exception of the sensational press campaigns which led to the passage of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937.

The central focus of this study is cognitive information utilisation. Research in information utilisation to date has largely focused on the organisational outcomes of the take up of scientific and professional information in the context of social practice, and the related political, cultural and economic factors affecting this. Conceptualising information utilisation as a type of organisational change or end-state has tended to mask the complex cognitive exchanges that occur. While there has been increasing acknowledgement that information utilisation is a more holistic interactive change process involving cognitive strategies and transformations, very little research has focused on the cognitive dimension of information utilisation. Bertram Brookes claimed that the theoretical pursuit of information science should be the cognitive interaction between people and information. He explicated this as the Fundamental Equation of information science, most commonly expressed in his writings as K[S] + ∆I = K[S + ∆S]. By this equation, Brookes was stating that in the process of doing something with information, a person's existing knowledge structure K[S] is changed by an increment of information ∆I, and this modification has some effect, a changed knowledge structure K[S + ∆S] where ∆S indicates the effect of the modification. This equation is posited as an expression of cognitive information utilisation. The specific purpose of this study is to further understanding of cognitive information utilisation, employing Brookes' Fundamental Equation as a general framework for establishing research questions, operational rationalisations and procedures. With a group of four girls in their final year of secondary education, the study sought to: (a) establish the effects ∆S of exposure to information perceived by the girls; (b) establish how the perceived effects are associated with changes to their knowledge structures K[S]; and (c) establish the patterns, if any, within and between the girls in relation to changes in knowledge structures and perceived effects (K[S + ∆S]). The study employed a quasi-experimental repeated phase approach. The girls' existing knowledge structures about the drug heroin were mapped, and knowledge structures after each of three exposures to different information on heroin were also mapped. Eliciting the girls' knowledge about heroin was based on written discourse and question / answer protocols, and this knowledge was represented as conceptual graph structures, based on an analytical procedure developed by Graesser & Clark (1985). The data were analysed qualitatively to establish indicators and conceptualisations of the perceived effects, and to identify and conceptualise the changed knowledge structures. The study found that the exposures to information and the deliberate consideration of this information had effects for all the girls. Five types of effects were perceived, these being: get a complete picture, get a changed picture, get a clearer picture, get a verified picture, and get a position in a picture. These effects are presented as types of cognitive information utilisation. The knowledge structures after each exposure were shown to change by cognitive strategies of appending, inserting and deleting. The analysis of the knowledge structures associated with these five effects showed that there was coherence between the effects and how these effects were manifested in changes to the girls' knowledge structures. A number of distinct patterns were evident, for example, get a complete picture was associated with revised knowledge structures that were more inclusive, elaborative and integrative. The study raises important implications for information practice, including data base design, information interviews, provision of information in media campaigns, and instructional design. The study also addresses methodological issues and identifies area for further research.

Narratives of 'being Maori in addiction' have developed in a context in which Maori have been constituted as both 'drunken savages' and 'traditionally' abstinent. Discourses of colonialism and ongoing marginalisation, not to mention resistance, have been most salient in Maori narratives, while those focused on 'cultural deficit' have been more prominent within hegemonic narratives. The goal of the current thesis was to increase understanding of the construction of being Maori in addiction' by: i) identifying key discursive resources used to constitute related subject positions; and ii) identifying the ways in which such resources were deployed to accomplish particular tasks. A review of influential texts identified several core discourses, which located Maori within 'traditions' of collectivity, spirituality and connection with the land. However, the ongoing impact of colonisation, including contemporary alienation from 'tradition', and construction of Maori as the inferior 'other' within hegemonic narratives were prominent. Discourses of addiction have characteristically been based on biological notions of 'disease' and 'disorder', however, psychosocial discourse has become prominent more recently. The '12 Steps' of Alcoholic Anonymous, which provided the primary resource for participants with regard to 'addiction', also includes explicit discourses of spirituality. The current thesis was implemented within a methodological framework, kaupapa Maori. In this context deconstructive discourse analysis was identied as the most appropriate means of analysing interview data gathered from 11 men attending a 'addiction treatment' programme. The results indicated that while 'tradition' was central to narratives of 'being Maori', dicources of alienation and loss were equally salient. In terms of 'addiction', discourses of genetic inheritance were most prominent, although psychosocially constituted 'underlying issues' were also clearly located as being important. Such 'issues' were linked to both general life experiences and 'being Maori'. 'Treatment' narratives revolved around transformative narratives of 'self'. As participants disconnected themselves from 'addiction' and 'underlying issues', they reconnected with their positive ;essential self', previously compromised by 'addiction'. Two main discourses were utilised in terms of the relationship between 'being Maori' and 'addiction'. The first, deployed in aetiological narratives, constituted an inevitable link between 'being Maori' and substance use. The second, more prominent in 'treatment' narratives, located substance use as antithetical to 'Maori culture'. While both Maori and 12 Step 'traditions' were highlighted in participants' narratives, the latter tended to be privileged. 'Being Maori' was identified as important, or at least relevant, however, the opportunity to engage with integrated indigenised narratives of 'addiction' appeared to be limited by several factors. Essentialist 'tradition', for example, tended to be uncritically privileged within discourses that failed to account for contemporary 'diverse Maori realities', ignoring the complexities of relations between and within Te Ao Maori and Te Ao Pakeha. Additionally, '12 Step' discourses of 'treatment' limited construction of more broadly focused narratives of 'recovery'. Overall, the results indicated a clear need for Maori 'addiction treatments' to avoid essentialist notions of 'tradition' and support integrated narratives of 'being Maori in addication', which reflect the varied needs, capacity and experiences of individuals and whanau.

The main objective of this thesis is to illustrate the benefits of using a cultural studies approach in the field of health communication research in Thailand. In this thesis I apply a cultural studies approach to examine the construction of meanings involving drug use and abuse in Thai television advertisements and dramas. The thesis has as its focus analyses of television texts and audience responses. The major arguments advanced in this thesis are that: (a) the causes of drug use and abuse are complex; (b) drug use and abuse, particularly given the 'risk culture' and 'risk society' of the post-modern world, are products of individual social and cultural contexts; (c) cultural studies assist us to better understand the cultural dimension of human behaviour, including the causes of drug use and abuse; and so (d) by adopting a cultural studies approach to the design and production of health promotion campaigns, such campaigns may be made more effective. The thesis argues that in designing health promotion campaigns, health professionals should be concerned to better understand the complexity of their audiences and the manner in which members of those audiences construct meanings and make sense of texts. Should they do so, the designers of health promotion campaigns may, thereby, develop a more sophisticated understanding of what is necessary to contribute to changing audience behaviour. This, in turn, may assist them to improve the design and effectiveness of future health promotion campaigns. The principal tool drawn from cultural studies used in this thesis is textual analysis. This research method involves making an educated guess at some of the most likely interpretations that might be made of a text. In addition, it demonstrates the complexity of the process of making media texts. The texts analysed in this study are selected from two genres of television: television advertisements and television dramas. I analyse television advertisements used in health promotion / drug prevention campaigns broadcast in Thailand in the period from 1990 to 2004 and two well known Thai television dramas entitled Kam See Than Don: KSTD (1999) and Num Poo: NP (2002).

Thesis (D.Min.)--Liberty Theological Seminary and Graduate School, 2006.

This is a qualitative research project that seeks to understand the meanings that Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselors (CADC's) have ascribed to their life experiences in relation to their choices about higher education. The participants are four Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselors in Oregon who have less than bachelor degrees. The research is based on a case study method of inquiry in which the participants discuss their life experiences and their thoughts about their educations during in-depth, semi-structured interviews. The findings are grouped into two themes that emerged from the data: The themes are: 1) resiliency and 2) personal transformation. In keeping with the literature, this study indicates that people can and do develop resiliency characteristics well into adulthood. It also suggests that reflection can be a vehicle for catharsis and personal transformation. / Graduation date: 2003

This study examined the values, competencies, and goals of educators related to preventing drug abuse. Its purpose was to develop a new theory to define the crisis moral community among the educators: a theory which linked the primary variables (values, competencies, and goals) in such a way as to reveal their relationships. Twenty rural educators who had participated in a drug education training program, were surveyed using two instruments: one which examined their perceived competencies to conduct drug education and one which examined their values related to four imagined conflict situations. The relationship between the two assessments linked the teachers' values to their perceived level of competency and the goal of their drug education program. The face value of the data permitted the development of a finer description of the three linked variables. Not only do the variables covary; they also transform as they move from simple to complex (values), random to purposeful (competencies), and information-only to enfranchisement (goals). The primary result supports a crisis among the educators surveyed. The substantive conclusion is the development of enfranchisement theory as a higher order method for preventing drug abuse. Enfranchisement theory establishes a critical horizon that explains the failure of many drug education programs (DARE, for example) and proposes a values set, level of educator competency, and program goals for effective drug education. / Graduation date: 1995