Substance use by social workers and implications for professional regulation

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the prevalence and patterns of substance use among Canadian social workers. With legalisation of can professional regulatory bodies are pressed to consider implications of substance use for their members. Design/methodology/approach An online survey collected data about demographics and substance use prevalence and patterns. Statistical analysis involved pairwise comparisons, binary logistic regression models and logistic regression models to explore correlations between substance use and demographic and work-related variables. Findings Among the respondents (n=489), findings indicate that past-year use of cannabis (24.1 per cent), cocaine (4.5 per cent), ecstasy (1.4 per cent), amphetamines (4.3 per cent), hallucinogens (2.4 per cent), opioid pain relievers (21.0 per cent) and alcohol (83.1 per cent) are higher than the general Canadian population. Years of work experience and working night shift were significant predictors of total number of substances used in the past year. Use of a substance by a person when they were a student was highly correlated with use when they were a professional. Research limitations/implications Prevalence of substance use among social workers was found to be higher than the Canadian population; potential due to the anonymous nature of data collection. Originality/value This study has implications for social conceptualisations of professionalism and for decisions regarding professional regulation. Previous literature about substance use by professionals has focussed predominantly on implications for increased surveillance, monitoring, and disciplinary action. We contend that since substance use among professionals tends to be concealed, there may be exacerbated social misconceptions about degree of risk and when it is appropriate to intervene.

“You Are You, But You Are Also Your Profession”: Nebulous Boundaries of Personal Substance Use

“…The 2017 Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CTADS) involved n ¼ 16,349 telephone interviews conducted with residents aged 15 years and older (Government of Canada, 2019a). Our research about substance use among professionals has consistently found rates of past-year prevalence of substance use that well exceed what is reported in the CTADS study Kiepek et al, 2019). This may, in part, be accounted for by the anonymized nature of our online survey compared to phone interviews conducted by the federal government.…”

“…This may, in part, be accounted for by the anonymized nature of our online survey compared to phone interviews conducted by the federal government. In these studies ( Kiepek, Ausman, et al, 2022 ; Kiepek et al, 2019 ), the most commonly reported substance use effects are positive or non-problematic (i.e., enjoyment, pleasure, relaxation).…”

Socio-Demographic Insights: A Five Country Study on Students' Drinking Behaviour

“…The focus of this section is on the influence of gender, age, disposable income, source of income and living environment. These variables are known to be significant predictors of drinking behaviour (Ahlström et al, 2001;Kiepek et al, 2019;Nyandu & Ross, 2020;Obot & Jos, 2006;Peltzer & Ramlagan, 2009).…”

Socially Situated Experiences of Substance Use: A Photo Elicitation Pilot Study

“…Internationally, there is very little research that examines substance use outside individualized, problemfocused epistemologies (Kiepek, Van de Ven et al, 2019). Discourses and research are shifting to recognize nonproblematic factors influencing substance use, such as pleasure (Lancaster et al, 2017;Moore, 2008;Nutt, 2012;Race, 2017;Ritter, 2014;Winstock & Nutt, 2013), performance enhancement (Enck, 2014;Kiepek, Harris et al, 2019), spirituality and ceremony (Labate, 2014;Laughlin, 2018;Tedlock & Tedlock, 1975), and enhanced lives (Evans-Brown et al, 2012). Use of substances for enhancement is primarily conceptualized as a means to compensate for disease-or illness-related dysfunction and/or facilitate performance beyond a persons' typical capabilities (Forlini, 2018).…”