University of California Riverside’s Ann Cheney, assistant professor in the Center for Healthy Communities at the School of Medicine, has worked as a co-investigator on a research project that recently published findings in the journal Substance Abuse and Misuse on how low-income, resource-poor communities can decrease substance abuse which include access to employment and support from non-drug using social groups.
Cheney worked jointly with professors Brenda M. Booth and Geoffrey M. Curran at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock and professor Tyrone F. Borders at the University of Kentucky, Lexington. The team’s research was supported by grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
“In Arkansas, substance use and risk behavior in general is a concern among African Americans living in some of the poorest communities in the US. African Americans experience oppression and structural vulnerabilities and may use substances to cope with chronic life stress and marginalization,” described Cheney. “The study team decided to focus on this particular population because of these factors and because cocaine use has increased in the last decade in this area of the US.”
The study was conducted by performing substance-use life history interviews between the years 2010 to 2012 on participants located primarily within the Arkansas and Mississippi Delta — an area in which strained race relations, poor economic conditions, high unemployment and high emigration is prevalent. Fifty-one African-Americans who are also current cocaine users between the ages 18- 61 were chosen to participate in the study. The participant pool represented men and women almost equally, with all of them reporting that they had not received any drug use treatment or counseling within the past 30 days. All of the participants were asked to describe their perceptions on substance abuse in the community, cocaine use history, attempts to decrease or eliminate cocaine use and treatment experiences.
Seventy-two percent of the participants indicated that in the past they have attempted at least once to lessen or quit cocaine use. Factors that they indicated played a role in their attempt to quit included trying to fulfill social role expectations, fatigue from drug use, criminal justice involvement, access to recovery capital, abstinence-supporting networks, religion and spirituality and participating in pro-social activities.
“The best way (to quit cocaine use) is through social relationships that support pro-social norms such as social engagements without drugs, daily activities that are meaningful, such as employment or being a role model or helping others and participation in a social group like a faith community or other community that fosters meaning, purpose and is supportive,” Cheney explained. Increasing access to non-drug-using family and friends, employment, the faith community and education are all intervention methods that can help lower substance abuse amongst minorities in low-income and poor-resource communities.
Another study that Cheney is working on is a pilot ethnographic study involving substance use and HIV risk among Latino immigrants in the eastern Coachella Valley, which is approximately 45 miles from the city of Riverside. “I am currently designing a study to address substance use and HIV risk among Latina young women. I also have plans in the near future to conduct research on substance use among college-age minority youth,” Cheney said.
