scholarly journals Understanding best practices: A look into homelessness related alcoholism

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Patt ◽  
Anthony Barnhart

Comorbidity of substance use disorders and homelessness is an ever present issue in the United States. Determining the best course of treatment for these individuals remains challenging. Here we highlight dominant models and theories explaining the relationships between substance abuse (specifically alcoholism) and homelessness, considering how they can and should inform strategies in the treatment of individuals facing homelessness and alcoholism. We review several models that have been developed to guide intervention strategies, from the traditional 12 steps to managed alcohol programs within low income communities to choice based programming within homeless shelters and rehab facilities. Data suggest that the best strategy continues to be programs that enhance individuals’ community support through peer based interactions. Though the perfect treatment within this isolated population is yet to be determined, future research should help to identify viable candidates.

2011 ◽  
Vol 113 (7) ◽  
pp. 1435-1476
Author(s):  
Matthew Militello ◽  
Jason Schweid ◽  
John Carey

Background/Context Today we have moved from the debate of student opportunity to post-secondary educational setting to 100% access. That is, today's high school settings have been charged with preparing “college ready” graduates. Educational policy has leveraged mandates and sanctions as a mechanism to improve college placement rates, especially in high schools with a high percentage of low-income students. However, little empirical evidence exists to assist us in understanding how college readiness is actualized for low-income students. Focus of Study The purpose of this study was to identify specific strategies that schools employ to raise college application and attendance rates for low-income students. Research Design This study investigated 18 College Board Inspiration Award winning or honorable mention high schools across the United States. Phone interviews with all 18 schools informed the selection of five case study high schools. Data collection included interviews and observations with high school educators, parents, students, and other community members. Findings In this study, we describe evidence within and across the five case schools using a framework that was generated from the first phase of this study. These schools effectively improved college readiness by developing collaborative practices around: (1) Program Management, (2) External Partnerships, (3) Leadership, (4) College-focused Intervention Strategies, (5) Achievement-oriented School Culture, (6) Parental Outreach, (7) Systemic, Multileveled Intervention Strategies, (8) Use of Data, (9) Development and Implementation of Inclusive School Policies, and (10) Routinizing or Offloading Routine or Mundane Tasks. Conclusions/Implications This study operationalizes what effective practices look like in high schools with low-income students. The findings move beyond normative models to be implemented across sites to illustrations of exemplar practices that can guide collaborative efforts to enact the specific tasks necessary to improve college readiness for students.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 876-876
Author(s):  
Setarreh Massihzadegan ◽  
Jan Mutchler

Abstract Utilizing the first set of 5-year American Community Survey data available since the United States’ legalization of same-sex marriage in mid-2015, this poster investigates the economic security of older adults (age 50+) in same-sex marriages compared to those in same-sex partnerships who are cohabiting but not married. Viewed through the lens of cumulative disadvantage theory, we consider differences in the economic circumstances of same-sex couples by gender and by geographic location. Findings point to gender differences in economic well-being, but relatively few differences based on marital status. For example, rates of low income are somewhat higher among female couples than among their male counterparts, but marital status differences are not substantial. These findings suggest that the benefits of being married that have long been recognized among older adults may not extend equally to same-sex couples. Findings are discussed with respect to the emerging salience of marriage within the LGBTQ older community, future research opportunities, and important policy implications.


2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 01-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brent A Langellier ◽  
Jeremiah R. Garza ◽  
Michael L. Prelip ◽  
Deborah Glik ◽  
Ron Brookmeyer ◽  
...  

Introduction: An increasingly popular strategy to improve the food retail environment and promote healthy eating in low-income and minority communities is the corner store conversion. This approach involves partnering with small ‘corner’ food stores to expand access to high-quality fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods. Methods: We conducted a structured review of the literature to assess inventories and sales in corner stores, as well as to identify intervention strategies employed by corner store conversions. Results: Our review returned eight descriptive studies that discussed corner store inventories and sales, as well as ten intervention studies discussing six unique corner store conversion interventions in the United States, the Marshall Islands, and Canada. Common intervention strategies included: 1) partnering with an existing store, 2) stocking healthy foods, and 3) social marketing and nutrition education. We summarize each strategy and review the effectiveness of overall corner store conversions at changing peoples’ food purchasing, preparation, and consumption behaviors. Conclusions: Consumption of fresh, healthy, affordable foods could be improved by supporting existing retailers to expand their selection of healthy foods and promoting healthy eating at the neighborhood level. Additional corner store conversions should be conducted to determine the effectiveness and importance of specific intervention strategies.


Author(s):  
Minqi Pan ◽  
Teresa C. Tempelmeyer ◽  
Beverly L. Stiles ◽  
Kara Vieth

Researchers focusing on academic dishonesty (AD) have suggested the power of peer influence in predicting cheating behaviors. Cheating has been found to occur mostly when it is perceived as normative. Students' overestimation of the extent to which their peers cheat, as well as their beliefs that cheating would not lead to consequences, has been found to reinforce AD. Primarily employing Bandura's social learning theory (SLT), the current authors present an in-depth discussion of the variables hypothesized to contribute to the factors involved in the acquisition and maintenance of cheating behaviors. The authors present the results of a 2018 study examining cheating behaviors by students attending a state-supported university in the United States (US). Students' perceptions that their peers cheated, and their belief that cheating was an acceptable means of coping with academic pressure, were significant predictors of cheating. Potential intervention strategies are discussed, as are future research directions regarding peer influences on AD.


2016 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia Snodgrass Rangel ◽  
Carlos Monroy ◽  
Elizabeth Bell

There is a debate on students’ low science achievement in the United States, particularly among low income, African American students, and Latino students. An important part of the education community’s response to low achievement generally and in science specifically has been the implementation of high stakes accountability policies. Because of accountability’s emphasis on educator data use, much research has examined different facets of it throughout educational organizations, but research has not focused on the extent to which data use might be content-specific. The purpose of this paper, then, was to investigate the data use practices of science teachers. Drawing from a broader study of science teachers in grades 5-8 across six school districts, this study reports results from teacher surveys and interviews. The findings indicate that while there were examples of science-specific data use, most of the science teachers used data in ways consistent with previous content-agnostic research. Implications for future research, policy, and practice are discussed. 


2020 ◽  
Vol 135 (3) ◽  
pp. 1209-1318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathaniel Hendren ◽  
Ben Sprung-Keyser

Abstract We conduct a comparative welfare analysis of 133 historical policy changes over the past half-century in the United States, focusing on policies in social insurance, education and job training, taxes and cash transfers, and in-kind transfers. For each policy, we use existing causal estimates to calculate the benefit that each policy provides its recipients (measured as their willingness to pay) and the policy’s net cost, inclusive of long-term effects on the government’s budget. We divide the willingness to pay by the net cost to the government to form each policy’s Marginal Value of Public Funds, or its ``MVPF''. Comparing MVPFs across policies provides a unified method of assessing their effect on social welfare. Our results suggest that direct investments in low-income children’s health and education have historically had the highest MVPFs, on average exceeding 5. Many such policies have paid for themselves as the government recouped the cost of their initial expenditures through additional taxes collected and reduced transfers. We find large MVPFs for education and health policies among children of all ages, rather than observing diminishing marginal returns throughout childhood. We find smaller MVPFs for policies targeting adults, generally between 0.5 and 2. Expenditures on adults have exceeded this MVPF range in particular if they induced large spillovers on children. We relate our estimates to existing theories of optimal government policy, and we discuss how the MVPF provides lessons for the design of future research.


2021 ◽  
pp. 002221942098612
Author(s):  
Stefan Blumenthal ◽  
Yvonne Blumenthal ◽  
Erica S. Lembke ◽  
Sarah R. Powell ◽  
Patricia Schultze-Petzold ◽  
...  

The purpose of this explorative study was to examine the use and understanding of key components of data-based decision making by educators in two countries—Germany and the United States. Educators responded to a survey that asked about data use and characteristics related to data-based decision making (DBDM). Results suggest educators in both countries are focused on using data to monitor progress, although less so in Germany. Educators in both countries noted similar understanding of important features (e.g., psychometric properties) of data. Educators in the United States reported they used data for decision making at the classroom level almost twice as often as their counterparts in Germany, while German educators focused on decision making at the student level. These findings will influence future research, including joint studies that could use the best practices of both countries, and professional learning opportunities for educators in Germany and the United States.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison L. Antes ◽  
Heidi A. Walsh ◽  
Michelle Strait ◽  
Cynthia R. Hudson-Vitale ◽  
James M. DuBois

Qualitative data provide rich information on research questions in diverse fields. Recent calls for increased transparency and openness in research emphasize data sharing. However, qualitative data sharing has yet to become the norm internationally and is particularly uncommon in the United States. Guidance for archiving and secondary use of qualitative data is required for progress in this regard. In this study, we review the benefits and concerns associated with qualitative data sharing and then describe the results of a content analysis of guidelines from international repositories that archive qualitative data. A minority of repositories provide qualitative data sharing guidelines. Of the guidelines available, there is substantial variation in whether specific topics are addressed. Some topics, such as removing direct identifiers, are consistently addressed, while others, such as providing an anonymization log, are not. We discuss the implications of our study for education, best practices, and future research.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kathryn Hsieh

The purpose of this study was to understand how students navigate housing insecurity during their postsecondary experience. Emerging as a recent topic in scholarly discussion, how students address housing affordability and accessibility highlights an important discussion surrounding college opportunity. Qualitative interviews with 20 postsecondary alumni were conducted in a large public research institution in the United States. Through a resilience framework, this study explored how students navigated their housing challenges by leveraging internal and external factors. Housing challenges included living in overcrowded spaces, moving frequently, working significant hours, and reducing monthly expenses such as groceries to ensure housing affordability. The impact of these strategies increased a student's anxiety, negatively affecting their personal well-being and at times their academics. Despite these challenges, participants showed a strong resolve to persevere toward college completion. Themes of self-efficacy (internal) and supportive relationships (external) were important motivators to persist toward college completion in spite of housing challenges and barriers. Each participant was determined to overcome the stigma associated with their housing challenges to increase the social mobility of their family and counter stereotypes associated with being a low-income, minority, or first-generation college student. However, due to the negative perceptions associated with housing insecurity, participants would not disclose the extent of their housing challenges with campus stakeholders. Isolation from these experiences decreased a student's sense of belonging and established a belief that the institution could not provide support to address their housing challenges. Implications for policy, practice, and future research include reassessing financial aid packages, developing direct support offices on campus, and additional opportunities to examine housing insecurity from an identity-based lens.


2020 ◽  
pp. 0044118X2095924
Author(s):  
Grace Gowdy ◽  
Daniel P. Miller ◽  
Renée Spencer

Although there have been calls to expand mentoring as way to redress the growing problem of economic immobility in the United States, no study to date has directly examined whether mentoring and economic mobility are related. Using multiple waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and employing a propensity score matching approach, this quasi-experimental study compares youth who report having had an informal adult mentor in adolescence with those who did not from both low-income ( N = 795) and middle-income ( N = 3,158) samples to test whether having an informal mentor in adolescence is associated with economic mobility in early adulthood. We find that middle-income youth who report having had an informal mentor in adolescence are more likely to be upwardly mobile than those who did not but the same did not hold true for the low-income youth. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.


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