Identifying and preventing health problems among young drug-misusing offenders

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the health problems and treatment needs of drug-misusing offenders and to draw out the implications of the findings for health education and prevention. Design/methodology/approach – This analysis is based on data collected as part of the New English and Welsh Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (NEW-ADAM) programme. The survey was based on interviews and urine sample collection with over 3,000 arrestees. Findings – The research found that young arrestees experienced a wide range of drug-related and general health problems. The implications of this are discussed in the context of programmes implemented as part of the government’s drug strategy. Originality/value – The NEW-ADAM surveys provide an original source of information on the drug and general health needs of young people at the first point of entry in the criminal justice system

Visualising human-animal-technology relations : fieldnotes, still photography and digital video on the robotic dairy farm

This paper explores the potential for developing less anthropocentric approaches to researching human-nonhuman relations through visual ethnography, critically examining the potential for conceptualising nonhuman animals as participants. Arguing that method in “more-than-human geography” and animal studies has developed at a slower pace than theory, it proposes visual approaches as a means through which to foreground the behaviour and actions of nonhuman animals in social research. This challenges underlying anthropocentric assumptions of visual ethnography, questioning the meaning of “participation” in visual research. The paper presents a comparison of approaches used in studying practices of robotic milking on dairy farms in the UK. Specifically, it compares the qualities of field notes, still photography and digital video in focusing on particular sites, moments and movements of robotic milking. While visual approaches are not a panacea for more-than-human research, we suggest that they do offer a means through which nonhumans might “speak for themselves” in social research. Rather than presenting definitive accounts, the inclusion of video in such work not only illustrates arguments but also leaves the actions of nonhumans open to further interpretation; the centrality of the researcher is destabilised

“It's called homophobia baby” Exploring LGBTQ+ Substance Use and Treatment Experiences in the UK

Introduction. Gender and sexual minority/minoritised groups are at a higher risk of substance misuse and related harm compared to the rest of the population. However, limited research has focused on understanding the extent of these issues and the support needs of all minoritised groups within the LGBTQ+ population. Methods. This qualitative cross-sectional survey sought to explore LGBTQ+ individuals’ perspectives on substance use and treatment experiences. Researchers used a manual thematic analysis approach to thoroughly study the data, examining each part closely to uncover themes and patterns. Co-produced with stakeholders and developed with input from LGBTQ+ individual with lived experience, the survey included 38 participants across the UK. Results. Cannabis (83% n=20), ecstasy (68% n=15), and cocaine (67% n=16) were commonly used substances, while some participants (19% n=6) reported consuming high levels of alcohol. Many respondents highlighted the role of ‘stigma’ and peer pressure within the LGBTQ+ communities as a motivator for substance use. Participants expressed a preference for informal support due to fears of ‘discrimination’ from formal treatment services. Conclusions. The study underscores the need for research inclusive of all LGBTQ+ groups and highlights the importance of tailored interventions that address the diverse needs of LGBTQ+ individuals. Further exploration of peer-led interventions is necessary to assess their effectiveness. The findings emphasise the necessity of person-centered treatment approaches that recognise the heterogeneity of service users

Taxonomy Visualization in Support of the Semi-Automatic Validation and Optimization of Organizational Schemas

Never before in history, mankind had access to and produced so much data, information, knowledge, and expertise as today. To organize, access, and manage these highly valuable assets effectively, we use taxonomies, classification hierarchies, ontologies, and controlled vocabularies among others. We create directory structures for our files. We use organizational hierarchies to structure our work environment. However, the design and continuous update of these organizational schemas that potentially have thousands of class nodes to organize millions of entities is challenging for any human being. The Taxonomy Visualization and Validation (TV) tool introduced in this paper supports the semi-automatic validation and optimization of organizational schemas such as file directories, classification hierarchies, taxonomies, or any other structure imposed on a data set as a means of organization, structuring, and naming. By showing the “goodness of fit” of a schema and the potentially millions of entities it organizes, the TV eases the identification and reclassification of misclassified information entities, the identification of classes that grew over-proportionally, the evaluation of the size and homogeneity of existing classes, the examination of the “well-formedness” of an organizational schema, etc. The TV is exemplarily applied to display the United States Patent and Trademark Office patent classification, which organizes more than three million patents into about 160,000 distinct patent classes. The paper concludes with a discussion and an outlook to future work

Adapting existing behaviour: perceptions of substance switching and implementation of minimum pricing for alcohol in Wales

Minimum Pricing for Alcohol (MPA) was enacted in Wales on March 2nd 2020. During the legislative process (i.e. consultation and parliamentary discussion), concern was expressed about the possibility of some drinkers switching to using other substances in response to any rise in the cost of alcohol. This paper reports on findings from a study which explored these pre-implementation concerns and how the policy was shaped. The research involved surveys (n=193) and interviews (n=87) with drinkers (predominantly harmful or treatment seeking) and providers of services. Survey responses were detailed, thus when combined with the interviews, provided a wealth of qualitative data, which are drawn upon in this paper. The findings highlight an expectation that most drinkers would respond to the new policy with adaptations of their coping mechanisms to maintain alcohol use at pre-legislative levels. This was either by switching alcohol products and adjusting their lifestyle to maintain an affordable drinking habit or developing new behaviours to manage additional costs. A small group of those with previous experience of drug use were identified as likely to switch from using alcohol to some other substances. Prior to the legislation being implemented awareness of the detail of the policy was found to be low, and perceptions of increased potential harm for certain groups were linked to concern about a lack of treatment capacity

Re-capturing bovine life: robot-cow relationships, freedom and control in dairy farming

Robotic milking machines are novel technologies that take over the labour of dairy farming and reduce the need for human-animal interactions. Replacing ‘conventional’ twice-a-day milking managed by people with a system that supposedly allows cows the freedom to be milked automatically whenever they choose, it is claimed that robotic milking has health, welfare and productivity benefits for cows, as well as having lifestyle advantages for dairy farmers. Such claims are certainly contested, but, the installation of robotic milkers clearly establishes new forms of relationships between cows, technologies and dairy farmers. This paper draws on in-depth interviews with farmers and observational research on farms to examine some of the implications of these emerging relationships. We focus on two issues. First, we explore changes in what it is to ‘be bovine’ in relation to milking robots, drawing on a combination of a discursive framing of cows’ behaviour and ‘nature’ by dairy farmers and on-farm observation of cow-technology interaction. Second, we examine how such changes in bovinity might be articulated through conceptions of biopower which focus on knowledge of and intervention in the life of both the individual cow body and the herd. Such knowledge and intervention in the newly created sites of the robotic milking dairy are integral to these remodelled, disciplinary farm systems. Here, cows’ bodies, movements and subjectivities are trained and manipulated in accordance with a persistent discourse of agricultural productivism. In discussing these issues, the paper seeks to show how particular representations of cows, the production of embodied bovine behaviours, technological interventions and micro-geographies contribute to a re-capturing and re-enclosure of bovine life which counters the liberatory discourses which are used to promote robotic milking