TY - JOUR
T1 - The Perfect Storm? COVID-19 and Substance Use amongst Social Work Students in the USA
AU - Kim, Youn Kyoung
AU - Moon, Sung Seek
AU - Yu, Mansoo
AU - Um, Mee Young
AU - Maleku, Arati
AU - Kehinde, Omoshola
AU - Pooler, David
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved.
PY - 2022/7/1
Y1 - 2022/7/1
N2 - During the COVID-19 pandemic, health risk behaviours related to substance use have been recognised as a significant public health concern amongst university students. Understanding the mechanisms of substance use behaviours, including those used to cope with COVID-19-related stressors, is imperative to curate targeted prevention efforts. To that end, we examined substance use prevalence and its associations with socio-demographic characteristics, preventive behaviours, and mental health amongst US social work students. We collected data from 457 students across all degree levels (BSW, MSW and PhD) from July to August 2020 through an online survey, to examine thirty-day patterns of substance use behaviours related to cigarettes, electronic vapour products, alcohol, binge drinking and marijuana. Univariate and bivariate analyses revealed high rates of substance use behaviours, particularly alcohol use (71 per cent), binge drinking (35 per cent) and marijuana use (25 per cent). Findings also revealed significant associations amongst substance use, socio-demographic characteristics, and mental health. Amongst other implications, our study should encourage social work programmes to promote positive coping strategies amongst students and foster substance abuse prevention efforts, both to mitigate health risk behaviours and to enhance student well-being, both during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
AB - During the COVID-19 pandemic, health risk behaviours related to substance use have been recognised as a significant public health concern amongst university students. Understanding the mechanisms of substance use behaviours, including those used to cope with COVID-19-related stressors, is imperative to curate targeted prevention efforts. To that end, we examined substance use prevalence and its associations with socio-demographic characteristics, preventive behaviours, and mental health amongst US social work students. We collected data from 457 students across all degree levels (BSW, MSW and PhD) from July to August 2020 through an online survey, to examine thirty-day patterns of substance use behaviours related to cigarettes, electronic vapour products, alcohol, binge drinking and marijuana. Univariate and bivariate analyses revealed high rates of substance use behaviours, particularly alcohol use (71 per cent), binge drinking (35 per cent) and marijuana use (25 per cent). Findings also revealed significant associations amongst substance use, socio-demographic characteristics, and mental health. Amongst other implications, our study should encourage social work programmes to promote positive coping strategies amongst students and foster substance abuse prevention efforts, both to mitigate health risk behaviours and to enhance student well-being, both during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
KW - COVID-19
KW - mental health
KW - social work students
KW - socio-demographic characteristics
KW - substance use behaviours
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U2 - 10.1093/bjsw/bcab192
DO - 10.1093/bjsw/bcab192
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85126003184
SN - 0045-3102
VL - 52
SP - 2854
EP - 2874
JO - British Journal of Social Work
JF - British Journal of Social Work
IS - 5
ER -