Reconstructing Cross-Cultural Meanings of Addiction Among Women from Three Countries

The gender gap in drug use is narrowing in regions where access to criminalized substances, such as opioids, is increasing. While research shows that substance use is gendered, less is known about the cultural norms and values shaping women’s drug use, as most studies focus on men. Cross-national comparisons of cultural models of addiction are needed to better understand how addiction is perceived and to inform culturally responsive treatment approaches for women. This study examined cultural models of addiction among reproductive-aged women receiving treatment for substance misuse in London, Toronto, and Delhi. Participants completed a semi-structured questionnaire with open-ended and free-list prompts. Findings revealed shared cultural models attributing drug use to psychological factors, such as self-medicating to manage negative emotions or enhance positive ones, as well as relational, developmental, and biological influences. In conclusion, the study highlights the importance of incorporating cultural models into research and treatment. By using an inductive approach to explore meanings surrounding drug use among people in recovery, researchers can better understand how interventions are received and interpreted through existing internal frameworks

Reconstructing Cross-Cultural Meanings of Addiction Among Women from Three Countries

Data Availability Statement: Data is unavailable due to privacy restrictions.The gender gap in drug use is narrowing in regions where access to criminalized substances, such as opioids, is increasing. While research shows that substance use is gendered, less is known about the cultural norms and values shaping women’s drug use, as most studies focus on men. Cross-national comparisons of cultural models of addiction are needed to better understand how addiction is perceived and to inform culturally responsive treatment approaches for women. This study examined cultural models of addiction among reproductive-aged women receiving treatment for substance misuse in London, Toronto, and Delhi. Participants completed a semi-structured questionnaire with open-ended and free-list prompts. Findings revealed shared cultural models attributing drug use to psychological factors, such as self-medicating to manage negative emotions or enhance positive ones, as well as relational, developmental, and biological influences. In conclusion, the study highlights the importance of incorporating cultural models into research and treatment. By using an inductive approach to explore meanings surrounding drug use among people in recovery, researchers can better understand how interventions are received and interpreted through existing internal frameworks.This study was funded by the Fulbright Global Scholar award and Ball State University’s ASPIRE grant

Media(ting) Between Generations: Common Sense and Perceptions of New Media by Young People and Teachers

The wide spread of mobile communication devices, the expansion of social media and participatory media platforms, the ease to edit, share and produce media content, indicate a trend of change in the media system that influences the production and consumption of knowledge and generates new paths for the young\u2019s identity construction. This raises necessary questions about the ways not only young, but also the education agencies \u2013 school in particular \u2013 relate to these transformations, starting from taking into account the production of common sense on the use, risks and opportunities of the media. Based on these considerations, in this paper, we will discuss the results of a qualitative case study carried out in the Veneto Region (Italy) on upper secondary school students and teachers in order to detect and compare the perception that young and educators have of the media, trying to identify boundaries or land on which to build exchange opportunities for dialogue between the generations

Singing Against Loneliness: songs of a homeless choir in Porto

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the link in this record.recent decades, cultural institutions in Western countries have developed educational services and supported community cultural projects. Through the rhetoric of social inclusion, the concert hall Casa da Música (CM) in Porto, Portugal, tries to reach marginalized people in deprived contexts. This study investigated ‘Som da Rua’ (“Sound of the Street”), a music ensemble of homeless adults created by the CM, who perform in rehearsals and concerts supported by professional musicians and social educators. It explores the role of community music while reflecting on its possible effects upon the participants’ development, its significance in their lives and its potential to build resilience among disadvantaged adults. Special attention is given to the songs, as relevant elements in the construction of the group’s identity. The method is designed as a qualitative interpretive case study, combining various approaches: an evaluation of the project’s aims and implementation; a semi-structured interview with the music director; field notes of observations of the musical practice; and an analysis of the song repertoire. The results suggest positive effects of musical practice in building a sense of belonging and a group identity among disadvantaged adults. Through singing and playing, supported by professional musicians, participants develop good interpersonal relationships which may foster their self-confidence and social skills. Achieving good musical results and being warmly applauded by the audiences gives them a sense of accomplishment. The musical repertoire is unique to this group, and some songs were built from the participants’ inputs. The repertoire is therefore a key element in the construction of a new musical and social identity. The emotional character of the songs and the lyrics (sadness, despair, but also hope and resilience) reflects participants’ moods and life experiences, while helping them to cope with their harsh lives and build resilience against adversity

Health Psychology in Autobiography: Three Canadian Critical Narratives

Three Canadian colleagues in health psychology recount their careers in a field of research and practice whose birth they witnessed and whose developments they have critiqued. By placing the development of health psychology in Canada in a context that is both institutional and personal, Stam, Murray and Lubek raise a series of questions about health psychology and its propagation. While uniquely Canadian on the one hand, their professional careers were affected by international colleagues as well as others – patients and community members – whose views shaped their perspectives. This article is a plea for the continuing development of critical voices in health psychology

Unmet goals of tracking: within-track heterogeneity of students' expectations for

Educational systems are often characterized by some form(s) of ability grouping, like tracking. Although substantial variation in the implementation of these practices exists, it is always the aim to improve teaching efficiency by creating homogeneous groups of students in terms of capabilities and performances as well as expected pathways. If students’ expected pathways (university, graduate school, or working) are in line with the goals of tracking, one might presume that these expectations are rather homogeneous within tracks and heterogeneous between tracks. In Flanders (the northern region of Belgium), the educational system consists of four tracks. Many students start out in the most prestigious, academic track. If they fail to gain the necessary credentials, they move to the less esteemed technical and vocational tracks. Therefore, the educational system has been called a 'cascade system'. We presume that this cascade system creates homogeneous expectations in the academic track, though heterogeneous expectations in the technical and vocational tracks. We use data from the International Study of City Youth (ISCY), gathered during the 2013-2014 school year from 2354 pupils of the tenth grade across 30 secondary schools in the city of Ghent, Flanders. Preliminary results suggest that the technical and vocational tracks show more heterogeneity in student’s expectations than the academic track. If tracking does not fulfill the desired goals in some tracks, tracking practices should be questioned as tracking occurs along social and ethnic lines, causing social inequality