The implementation of good practice in school-based drug education : a stakeholder evaluation
This thesis analyses the delivery of drug education in the school setting through an exploration of the views, experiences and actions of two key stakeholders in the process: teachers with responsibility for programme co-ordination and development and pupils in the 15-16 year old age group. It is based on mixed methodology research carried out in schools in the East Midlands of England (1997-1999) and is inspired by post-positivist evaluation paradigms. Drawing on theories and models from sociology, psychology (communication theory), policy studies and health education, the thesis promotes understanding of factors helping and hindering the implementation of principles of good practice in drug education. The main reasons for a discrepancy between `ideals' and chalk face realities emerge as timetable constraints, a lack of confident and skilled delivery teachers and uncertainty in relation to the acceptability of a harm-reduction focus to programmes. Implicated, on a deeper level, are the dominant values in the education system and the ideology behind current drug control policy. The thesis develops a conceptual schema that captures the personal, interpersonal, organisational and wider, contextual influences behind patterns of variability in young people's take-up of drug education messages and indicates how these interrelate. It also sets out an argument that the key to efficacy in drug education lies in the sensitive tailoring of programmes to the pre-dispositions that young people bring to the process. The thesis concludes with recommendations for the future enhancement of policy and practice in this area.
A Land Fit for Heroin: Drug Policies, Prevention , and Practice
Dedication - Acknowledgements - Introduction N.Dorn and N.South - Heroin Today: Commodity, Consumption, Control and Care ISDD Research and Development Unit - The War on Heroin: British Policy and the International Trade in Illicit Drugs G.Stimson - Social Deprivation, Unemployment and Patterns of Heroin Use G.Pearson - How Families and Communities Respond to Heroin M.Donoghoe, N.Dorn, C.James, S.Jones, J.Ribbens and N.South - British Policy on the Treatment and Care of Drug Takers S.MacGregor and B.Ettorre - Reconciling Policy and Practice N.Dorn and N.South - Bibliography - Index
A burning issue? Adolescent alcohol use in Britain 1970-1991.
A review is presented of British research related to alcohol use and misuse by adolescents in the period 1970 to 1991. The stability of alcohol use among this age group is emphasised by a succession of studies which indicate the normality of alcohol consumption among its members, most of whom drink in moderation. It is noted that a succession of 'moral panics' amplified in the popular media have led to public concern about an 'epidemic' of alcohol misuse by young people, but that research evidence does not sustain this popular supposition. Nevertheless, the available evidence does support the conclusion that alcohol misuse is a major problem for a small proportion of young people.