The Disease Model of Alcoholism: A Kuhnian Paradigm

Despite the fact that the disease model of alcoholism has lost its status as paradigm in international circles, the alcoholism research and treatment community in the United States maintains steadfast allegiance to the tenets of the disease model. The disease model and the related treatment goal of abstinence continue to overwhelmingly dominate the treatment of alcoholism in the U.S. Critics have suggested that financial and political motives have served to maintain the dominance of the disease model, despite findings that violate its basic tenets. This paper presents an alternative explanation of the reluctance of the alcoholism treatment community to relinquish the disease model by utilizing Kuhn\u27s (1996) model of scientific progress in an historical analysis of the disease model. To support this position, evidence of the emergence of the disease model as a paradigm, alcoholism research as normal science, and the appearance of anomaly followed by crisis in the alcoholism research and treatment community are presented

Addressing Barriers to Housing in Reentry Programs Working to Address a Variety of Needs: A Qualitative Study of Second Chance Act Grantees

Using data from an evaluation of three Second Chance Act grantees, we explore formerly incarcerated people’s (FIP) access to housing. This study is unique in that it includes the perspectives of individuals with lived experiences and the insights of the reentry program providers working to meet their overall needs, including in the area of housing. The data come from reentry programs in three regions of the United States. Although the needs of the people with lived experiences have similarities, regional differences exist, particularly related to housing costs and supply, including the availability of transitional housing. Also, variations exist between FIP who are able to live with family compared with those who do not have this option. The three programs this study examined worked to address housing needs in distinctive ways and explores the housing needs of FIP and the strategies the three programs use to address these needs. Incorporating a two-pronged approach, this article includes analyses of (1) interview data with 31 FIP from 3 months to 3 years post-incarceration and (2) interviews and program materials to support formulative case analyses of the housing-related work that program enacted. Through this work, highlighting program efforts to remove barriers to housing for this population, the study seeks to promote the advancement of relevant policy, practice, and research in this arena

Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific mortality for 282 causes of death in 195 countries and territories, 1980-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017.

BACKGROUND: Global development goals increasingly rely on country-specific estimates for benchmarking a nation's progress. To meet this need, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2016 estimated global, regional, national, and, for selected locations, subnational cause-specific mortality beginning in the year 1980. Here we report an update to that study, making use of newly available data and improved methods. GBD 2017 provides a comprehensive assessment of cause-specific mortality for 282 causes in 195 countries and territories from 1980 to 2017. METHODS: The causes of death database is composed of vital registration (VR), verbal autopsy (VA), registry, survey, police, and surveillance data. GBD 2017 added ten VA studies, 127 country-years of VR data, 502 cancer-registry country-years, and an additional surveillance country-year. Expansions of the GBD cause of death hierarchy resulted in 18 additional causes estimated for GBD 2017. Newly available data led to subnational estimates for five additional countries-Ethiopia, Iran, New Zealand, Norway, and Russia. Deaths assigned International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes for non-specific, implausible, or intermediate causes of death were reassigned to underlying causes by redistribution algorithms that were incorporated into uncertainty estimation. We used statistical modelling tools developed for GBD, including the Cause of Death Ensemble model (CODEm), to generate cause fractions and cause-specific death rates for each location, year, age, and sex. Instead of using UN estimates as in previous versions, GBD 2017 independently estimated population size and fertility rate for all locations. Years of life lost (YLLs) were then calculated as the sum of each death multiplied by the standard life expectancy at each age. All rates reported here are age-standardised

A method to bridge the gap between breadth and depth in IS narrative analysis

We propose a method combining narrative analysis with grounded theory analysis to bridge the gap between breadth and depth in IS narrative research. The purpose of the method is not to develop a theory, but to make narrative analysis more accessible, transparent, and accountable, and to make the resultant narrative more contextually grounded. The method is aimed particularly at inexperienced narrative researchers who have not been guided through the complexity of narrative analysis, but it may also benefit experienced narrative researchers who may not be familiar with the applicability of grounded theory tools and techniques in this area

Determining pleasurability in requirements analysis: Modelling propositions on interaction in adventure and role play videogames

We demonstrate an approach to the analysis of videogames that is grounded in the experiences of twenty-five players using two different but closely related genres –adventure and role play game

Applying a Phenomenological Approach to Games Analysis: A Case Study

One expressed need in computer games literature is for intrinsic evaluation methodologies and workable operational research procedures to evaluate subjective game-play experiences and judgments and other user "pay-offs." A phenomenological methodology provides an appropriate "bottom-up," subject-centered, inductive, and empirically driven research approach. However, a need exists for case examples and specific methods to follow on how to apply a phenomenological methodology to games research. The authors offer a case study of how they used it to develop and test evaluation criteria for games, illustrating their analysis with examples from two studies where 25 participants played, then analyzed, offline adventure and role-play computer games. The authors’ evaluation approach offers bridges between the design and analytical sciences. It contributes to the analytical sciences by attempting to identify theoretical principles for evaluating quality in narrative adventure and role-play games. It contributes to the design sciences by supplying findings expressed as design principles for games improvement

Decrease in Healthcare Utilization and Costs for Opioid Users Following Residential Integrated Treatment for Co-Occurring Disorders

Background: Opioid use results in higher healthcare utilization and costs, particularly among those with co-occurring mental health disorders. Presumably, effective treatment would result in a reduction in healthcare utilization and costs. To date, research has not examined this question. As such, the purpose of this study was to estimate and compare pre- and post-treatment healthcare utilization and costs for individuals receiving residential integrated treatment for co-occurring mental health and opioid use disorders. Methods: A single-group, repeated measures design was used to examine changes in pre- and post-treatment healthcare utilization and costs among a sample of individuals with co-occurring mental health and opioid use disorders who received residential, integrated treatment. Results: Significant reductions in emergency rooms visits, inpatient admissions, and resulting costs were observed in the six months following treatment. Conclusions: Residential, integrated treatment of co-occurring mental health and opioid use disorders can significantly decrease both utilization and cost of healthcare among opioid users with co-occurring mental health disorders