Suchergebnisse

Using select practice variables from Rothman's typology of models of community organization, this case study of the Massachusetts Community-Based Public Health Consortium analyses potential sources of conflict in collaborations between academic institutions and community coalitions. Based on different socialization experiences and organizational expectations, the goals, assumptions, basic change strategies, salient practitioner roles, conceptions of the client population, and client roles of the respective organizations were found to differ between these two partners and to be a source of chronic, unproductive tensions in consortium deliberations. The article concludes with recommendations for facilitating the development of more mutually trustworthy academic-community linkages to achieve public health promotion goals. These recommendations include (1) developing a greater awareness of the respective kinds of assumptions academic and community partners are likely to bring into new partnerships and (2) developing a more highly integrated model of community-based public health that capitalizes on the strengths of both the social planning and locality development approaches.

The results of an exploratory study of the reasons and motivations young adolescents from different social backgrounds become involved with drugs are presented. The results are based on interviews with ninety-five eighth-grade students, roughly equally divided between white, middle-class students and black, low-income students. The analysis identifies three themes upon which students from these different backgrounds may be differentiated with respect to their decision-making processes about illegal drug use: different motivations; different experiences and feelings about various institutions in our society; and different attitudes regarding the efficacy of social norms. The implications of these findings for future drug prevention program efforts are discussed.

The article reviews three cycles of drug use that have appeared in American history since the founding of our nation. Periods of greatly expanded drug use have followed each of our major national crises: the American Revolution, the Civil War and the Sixties. It is argued that drug use during these periods came to symbolize an independent, antinomial character ideal. After two to three decades of extreme proliferation, each of these periods has then been followed by a period in which drug use has been condemned and abstinence proffered as an exemplary character ideal. During these periods, drug use symbolized the excesses of individualism and the neglect of the commonweal. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of this analysis for the current period.

The paper examines the impact and possible unintended side effects of the privately sponsored Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA) media campaign to reduce illicit drug abuse. The paper describes the history, goals, organization, production processes, and process and outcome evaluations of the PDFA advertising campaign. It also reviews major criticisms that have been leveled at the PDFA campaign, including its dissemination of false information, the narrow scope of its message, a number of unintended iatrogenic side-effects, potential conflicts of interest arising from the sources of its funding, and the agenda-setting function of the PDFA campaign in defining which drugs are dangerous and how the attendant problems should be addressed.

Purpose: To examine whether food insecurity longitudinally affects smoking status. Design: Population-based prospective study Setting: Data from the 2003 and 2015 Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). Participants: Four thousand five hundred sixty-three adults who were smokers and nonsmokers, participating in the 2003 (current study baseline) and 2015 (current study follow-up) waves of PSID. Measures: Based on self-reported smoking status at baseline and follow-up, respondents were categorized as continued smoking, stopped smoking, started smoking, and continued nonsmoking. Similarly, respondents were categorized as stayed food secure, stayed food insecure, became food insecure, and became food secure based on responses to the Food Security Survey at baseline and follow-up. Analysis: Two logistic regression analyses to examine (1) among smokers at baseline the odds of stopping versus continuing smoking by follow-up and (2) among nonsmokers at baseline the odds of starting versus continuing nonsmoking by follow-up. In both models, change in food insecurity status was the primary independent variable, controlling for demographics including poverty. Results: Among smokers at baseline, becoming food insecure (vs staying food secure) was independently associated with lower likelihood of stopping smoking by follow-up (odds ratio [OR] = 0.66). Among nonsmokers at baseline, becoming food insecure (vs staying food secure) was independently associated with higher likelihood of starting smoking by follow-up (OR = 3.77). Conclusions: Food insecurity is a risk factor for smoking, which has significant implications for developing interventions to reduce smoking prevalence, especially among low-income groups.