Weeding out the information: an ethnographic approach to exploring how young people make sense of the evidence on cannabis

BACKGROUND

Contradictory evidence on cannabis adds to the climate of confusion regarding the health harms related to use. This is particularly true for young people as they encounter and make sense of opposing information on cannabis. Knowledge translation (KT) is in part focused on ensuring that knowledge users have access to and understand best evidence; yet, little attention has focused on the processes youth use to weigh scientific evidence. There is growing interest in how KT efforts can involve knowledge users in shaping the delivery of youth-focused public health messages. To date, the youth voice has been largely absent from the creation of public health messages on cannabis.

METHODS

This ethnographic study describes a knowledge translation project that focused on engaging young people in a review of evidence on cannabis that concluded with the creation of public health messages generated by youth participants. We facilitated two groups with a total of 18 youth participants. Data included transcribed segments of weekly sessions, researcher field notes, participant research logs, and transcribed follow-up interviews. Qualitative, thematic analysis was conducted.

RESULTS

Group dynamics were influential in terms of how participants made sense of the evidence. The processes by which participants came to understand the current evidence on cannabis are described, followed by the manner in which they engaged with the literature for the purpose of creating an individual public health message to share with the group. At project end, youth created collaborative public health messages based on their understanding of the evidence illustrating their capacity to "weed out" the information. The content of these messages reflect a youth-informed harm reduction approach to cannabis use.

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrates the feasibility of involving young people in knowledge translation initiatives that target peers. Youth participants demonstrated that they were capable of reading scientific literature and had the capacity to engage in the creation of evidence-informed public health messages on cannabis that resonate with young people. Rather than simply being the target of KT messages, they embraced the opportunity to engage in dialogue focused on cannabis.

In the shadow of a new smoke free policy: A discourse analysis of health care providers' engagement in tobacco control in community mental health

BACKGROUND

The prevalence of tobacco use among individuals with mental illness remains a serious public health concern. Tobacco control has received little attention in community mental health despite the fact that many individuals with mental illness are heavy smokers and experience undue tobacco-related health consequences.

METHODS

This qualitative study used methods of discourse analysis to examine the perceptions of health care providers, both professionals and paraprofessionals, in relation to their roles in tobacco control in the community mental health system. Tobacco control is best conceptualised as a suite of policies and practices directed at supporting smoke free premises, smoking cessation counselling and limiting access to tobacco products. The study took place following the establishment of a new policy that restricted tobacco smoking inside all mental health facilities and on their grounds. Ninety one health care providers participated in open-ended interviews in which they described their role in tobacco control. The interview data were analyzed discursively by asking questions such as: what assumptions underlie what is being said about tobacco?

RESULTS

Five separate yet overlapping discursive frames were identified in which providers described their roles. Managing a smoke free environment emphasised the need to police and monitor the smoke free environment. Tobacco is therapeutic was a discourse that underscored the putative value of smoking for clients. Tobacco use is an individual choice located the decision to smoke with individual clients thereby negating a role in tobacco control for providers. It's someone else's role was a discourse that placed responsibility for tobacco control with others. Finally, the discourse of tobacco control as health promotion located tobacco control in a range of activities that are used to support the health of clients.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides insights into the complex factors that shape tobacco control practices in the mental health field and reinforces the need to see practice change as a matter that extends beyond the individual. The study findings highlight discourses structured by power and powerlessness in environments in which health care providers are both imposing and resisting the smoke free policy.

Relief-oriented use of marijuana by teens

BACKGROUND

There are indications that marijuana is increasingly used to alleviate symptoms and for the treatment of a variety of medical conditions both physical and psychological. The purpose of this study was to describe the health concerns and problems that prompt some adolescents to use marijuana for therapeutic reasons, and their beliefs about the risks and benefits of the therapeutic use of marijuana.

METHODS

As part of a larger ethnographic study of 63 adolescents who were regular marijuana users, we analyzed interviews conducted with 20 youth who self-identified as using marijuana to relieve or manage health problems.

RESULTS

Thematic analysis revealed that these teens differentiated themselves from recreational users and positioned their use of marijuana for relief by emphasizing their inability to find other ways to deal with their health problems, the sophisticated ways in which they titrated their intake, and the benefits that they experienced. These teens used marijuana to gain relief from difficult feelings (including depression, anxiety and stress), sleep difficulties, problems with concentration and physical pain. Most were not overly concerned about the risks associated with using marijuana, maintaining that their use of marijuana was not 'in excess' and that their use fit into the realm of 'normal.'

CONCLUSION

Marijuana is perceived by some teens to be the only available alternative for teens experiencing difficult health problems when medical treatments have failed or when they lack access to appropriate health care.

Through the haze of cigarettes: teenage girls' stories about cigarette addiction

Narrative inquiry was used to explore the meaning of nicotine addiction among teenage girls, age 14 to 17 years, who had recent experience with smoking. The following three narratives emerged: invincibility, giving in, and unanticipated addiction. Those who told a story of invincibility depicted how they were in control of their smoking and not addicted. Participants who gave accounts of giving in to smoking described yielding to external forces. In the narrative of unanticipated addiction, participants recounted their surprise at realizing that they were addicted. Two subnarratives, needing to quit and repeating history, were also uncovered. The study findings reveal the importance of semantics and identity issues as teenage girls talked about nicotine addiction. Listening to their stories is paramount in continued efforts in the reduction of tobacco consumption.