 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Briggett C Ford, ACSW, MPH, PhD, School of Social Work, University of Michigan, 1080 S. University, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1106, (734)-763-6282, bcford@umich.edu
Substance abuse is an important problem for African American women, who often lack access to diagnosis or treatment. Two explanations often associated with substance use in African American women are childhood abuse and difficult life circumstances. Each factor, coupled with violence exposure, negatively affects well-being. Only recently has research begun to explore the relationship between substance use and violence in women. Little research has examined the relationships among violence exposure, substance abuse, and well-being in African American women. This paper reports the findings of a study examining the relationship between violence exposure, substance use and well-being in an outpatient sample of 55 African American women diagnosed with serious, chronic mental illness. Clinical interviews were conducted using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID). SCID diagnoses were used to determine the levels of substance use for each woman. Amount of violence exposure was assessed using a instrument specifically modified for this study. Multiple regression analysis examined the mediating effects of substance use in a model exploring the relationship between violence exposure and well-being. Positive relationships were found to exist between violence exposure and level of substance use and level of substance use and well being. These findings highlight the need for social workers to be aware of and screen for substance use as well as violence when working with African American women.
Learning objectives: 1) describe the relationship between violence exposure, substance use and well-being; and 2)recognize the impact of violence exposure for African American women.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: African American, Violence
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: none
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.