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The purpose of this study was to survey parents who have Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and examine issues surrounding their parenting.

Qualitative surveys were used to collect data.

Findings from the study include three themes: (a) They needed to know; (b) Involving children with treatment; and (c) I can’t do this alone. Discussion of findings and conclusions and recommendations for parents, physicians, and future studies are presented.

Data for the study was collected through self-reports and limited demographic data was collected.

Continued research on MS is needed, especially in the area involving children in at-home treatments and children as caregivers. Children can be a challenging population to investigate, yet as evidenced in this study, children are being involved in MS treatments of their parents. A greater, more in-depth look at the role of a child as caregiver is warranted.

Research on the social determinants of health demonstrates that workers who feel insecure in their jobs suffer poorer health as a result. However, relatively few studies have examined the relationship between job insecurity and illegal substance use, which is closely related to health. In this study, we develop a theoretical model focusing on two intervening mechanisms: health and life satisfaction. Additionally, we examine differences in this relationship between women and men. We test this model using logistic regression models of substance use for women and men based on longitudinal data from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States. The results indicate that job insecurity is associated with a significantly higher probability of illegal substance use among women but not men. We interpret this as further evidence of the gendering of precarious employment. This relationship is not channeled through health or life satisfaction, but there is evidence that job insecurity has a stronger association with illegal substance use for women with poorer overall health.

Psychoactive substances take on many symbolic meanings, and thus the politics of psychoactive substances has featured symbolic elements, or value-based rationality, alongside and often dominating instrumental rationality. Drawing particularly on the work of Joseph Gusfield and Nordic scholars, the chapter considers the symbolic dimension in the politics of substance use, even in Nordic countries celebrated for their societal commitment to knowledge-based policymaking, and its effects on the interplay of science and policy.