Faculty Bibliography

Perceptions and consequences of co-worker substance use were assessed to (1) examine perceptions of co-worker use as supplemental measures of substance use problems in organizations, and (2) examine relationships with employee perceptions and attitudes. Support for the hypothesis that exposure to co-worker substance use is negatively associated with job performance and attitudes is presented. Results suggest the utility of evaluating perceptions of co-worker substance use in assessments of drug use in the workplace. These results have implications for training and education programs which should emphasize that employee substance use is a problem that extends beyond the substance-using employee.

The literature suggests that important and contributing factors in the rise of HIV and AIDS among women are crack use and the exchange of sex for drugs or money. However, not all women who use crack report they are exchanging sex for drugs or money. Thus, women are at differential risk for HIV and AIDS. The purpose of this study is to compare and describe women crack users (n = 292) who reported exchanging sex for drugs and money with women crack users who did not report exchanging sex. Results indicated that both women crack users who exchanged sex (n = 162) and women crack users who did not exchange sex (n = 130) were likely to be African American, to be about the same age, to have had incomes below +500 during the previous month, to have had similar education and martial backgrounds, to have had unprotected sexual intercourse as often, to have had similar drug use patterns, and to have initiated drug use at similar ages. However, women who exchanged sex had more sexual partners, had unprotected oral sex more often, used drugs before and during sex more often, and had a higher rate of sexually transmitted diseases than women who did not exchange sex. In addition, women who exchanged sex were also twice as likely to be homeless, four times more likely to have been in treatment, and twice as likely to have been arrested and charged/booked two or more times in their lifetime than women who did not exchange sex.

This study was undertaken to examine differences in caffeine and nicotine use between the psychiatric population and the addicted population in a private psychiatric inpatient facility. Eighty-six patients on an adult addictive disease inpatient unit and 80 patients on an adult psychiatry unit in a private psychiatric hospital were interviewed with regard to their use of nicotine and caffeine. In addition, demographic information and primary diagnoses were obtained from the psychiatric admission assessment in the medical record as listed by the admitting psychiatrist. Although there was little difference in psychiatric patients vs. chemically dependent patients with regard to the percentage of caffeine users, the chemically dependent individuals drank more coffee, soft drinks, and tea. A much greater percentage of the chemically dependent individuals also smoked cigarettes, although not in a greater amount than the psychiatric patients who smoked. Because group assignment was not random, ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analyses were conducted to determine the independent associations of age, sex, education, and treatment population in predicting levels of caffeine and tobacco use. Even after controlling for demographic differences between the two samples, chemically dependent patients still reported higher levels of daily caffeine and tobacco use than patients on the general psychiatric unit.

This article describes an Integrated Needs Estimation model which assesses needs for prevention services by combining measures of risk and resiliency for local areas. These estimates, based on data from surveys and social statistics, are used to design programs which foster resiliency and reduce risk, and to allocate resources based on local needs.

The use of criminal justice authority is discussed as a possibility for keeping drug users in treatment to decrease drug use, decrease injection, and to reduce the spread of HIV. It is hypothesized that the perception of treatment and control is a central factor in the limited use of criminal justice authority by community drug treatment providers.

This primarily methodological paper compares self-reported recent cocaine use among recently admitted jail inmates (N = 375) with hair assay results screened for 90 days. Contrasts between self-reported use and hair assay results are examined with special attention to individual differences, interviewers' ratings of truthfulness for each respondent, and whether or not the respondent actually qualified as being substance dependent. Results showed that the likelihood of admitting cocaine use was positively related to having received drug misuse treatment before, and negatively related to being Hispanic. Evidence is also presented which indicates that the lower levels of disclosure among Hispanics may have been due to poorer communication. Interviewers proved to be relatively adept at discerning between truthful and nontruthful respondents. Finally, results are presented which suggest that, despite considerable underreporting among the overall sample, subjects who actually qualified as being substance dependent were much more likely to honestly report recent cocaine use.