Fostering positive youth and staff development: Understanding the roles and experiences of the afterschool workforce.

Informed by strengths-based perspectives and systems theory of social settings, this mixed-methods study focuses on the experiences of the afterschool workforce employed by a large, urban community-based organization. Through directed content analysis of semi-structured individual and small-group interviews with afterschool instructors (ASI), this study sheds light on the roles, experiences, challenges, and supports of ASIs. Results demonstrate that ASIs navigate multiple roles in the afterschool setting, acknowledge the challenges of youth and families, experience several sources of professional support through the people and resources in afterschool, and articulate long-term professional goals related to their current work. In addition, concurrently collected quantitative survey and administrative data about ASIs' overall work experiences and satisfaction are analyzed to examine the extent to which they confirm and complement the qualitative results. Implications for practice and policy are discussed to highlight how these findings may be used to strengthen the youth-serving workforce in urban communities.

Military veterans' overdose risk behavior: Demographic and biopsychosocial influences.

BACKGROUND: U.S. military veterans face many biopsychosocial (BPS) challenges post-service that may elevate risk for opioid-related overdose including physical pain, mental health concerns and social stressors. Some veterans use opioids to manage pain and cope with social readjustment. This study assessed associations between BPS factors and recent engagement in overdose risk behavior in a community sample of post-9/11 veterans who used opioids in New York City. METHODS: Participants (n = 218) were recruited through convenience sampling and completed a baseline assessment including a validated Opioid Risk Behavior Scale (ORBS) that measured past-30-day engagement in 22 opioid-related overdose risk behaviors. Analyses examined associations between ORBS scores and hypothesized demographic, biological/physical, psychological and social predictors. Incident rate ratios estimated the expected relative difference in ORBS score associated with each predictor. RESULTS: Participants reported an average of 4.72 overdose risk behaviors in the past 30 days. Significant independent predictors of higher ORBS score, after adjustment for demographics and current prescription medications, were past-30-day: depression symptoms; unsheltered or living in a homeless shelter (vs. private housing); history of mental health treatment; experiencing stressful life events; average pain severity; and pain interference. CONCLUSION: Veterans face myriad BPS challenges and, while drug-related overdose risks are well understood, findings suggest that other factors-including mental health, pain and stressful life events-may also be associated with overdose risk among opioid-using veterans. The larger challenges veterans face should be considered in the context of BPS forms of pain management when tailoring and delivering overdose prevention interventions.