The proposed Boston University School of Social Work, Minority Institutions' Drug Abuse Research Program (BUMIDARP) is designed to develop the capacity of the School of Social Work at Boston University's research infrastructure to conduct epidemiological drug abuse research in African-American and Hispanic populations.
The aims of the BUMIDARP are to: (1) encourage faculty at the School of Social Work at Boston University and other schools of social work in the greater Boston area and nearby cities to develop epidemiological projects in the area of drug use and abuse in African-American and Hispanic communities in the greater Boston area; (2) provide research participation experiences for undergraduate and graduate students at Boston University's School of Social Work to encourage them to pursue careers in drug abuse research; 3) provide training to substance abuse service providers to more effectively document the substance abuse problems of African-Americans and Hispanics in the greater Boston area and demonstrate the need for substance abuse programs; 4) conduct two community-based ethnographic studies to document the problem of drug use among Puerto Rican and Dominican gangs in Lawrence, Massachusetts and the intergenerational transmission of drug use between African-American and Puerto Rican mothers and daughters; 5) develop and maintain a Web site that will serve as repository and disseminator and knowledge on epidemiological research with African-American and Hispanic populations for social workers and other professionals who conduct epidemiological research with African-American and Hispanics in the Boston area and nationally; and 6) develop and maintain a database on data files and a collection of publications on drug abuse research with African-American and Hispanic populations. The BUMIDARP is divided into two major components. The first component consists training program. This training program includes the following training activities: a summer faculty training program, a graduate student training program, a graduate lecture series program, an undergraduate biannual colloquims, a series of community workshops, and assistance and training of scientific and senior staff of the BUMIDARP. The second component consists of two research projects. The first project will identify and describe patterns of drug use and the structure of drug dealing in Puerto Rican and Dominican emerging gangs in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The second project will examine the intergenerational transmission of drug use between African-American and Puerto Rican mothers and daughters in the greater Boston area. The Principal Investigator will be managing, coordinating, and evaluating all the BUMIDARP training and research programs and projects. He will also be responsible for developing and maintaining a BUMIDARP Web site, a database of substance abuse data file, and a collection of publications.
