Dr Miriam Boeri
Fulbright Scotland Distinguished Scholar January -July 2025
Home Institution: North Jersey Community Research Initiative
Dr Boeri (she/her) is an ethnographer with more than 20 years teaching as a sociology professor and conducting research. She was tenured at Kennesaw State University and Bentley University. She is author of numerous journal articles and three books, including Hurt: Chronicles of the Drug War Generation, a book based on her study of older people who use drugs, and Women on Ice: Methamphetamine Use among Suburban Women. She is editor of Inside Ethnography: Researchers Reflect on the Challenges of Reaching Hidden Populations. Dr Boeri is currently affiliated with the North Jersey Community Research Initiative, a non-profit organization providing HIV/AIDS care and harm reduction treatment to individuals in New Jersey. While at the University of Edinburgh, she will collaborate with university researchers comparing data from the US and UK on mothers who use opioids.
Project Title: Governing Mothers Who Use Opioids: An International Comparative Analysis
The proposed research project for this Fulbright-Scotland Distinguished Scholar award at the University of Edinburgh integrates data from two studies. One is the "Governing Parental Opioid Use: A Relational Ethnography," hereafter referred to as the "Relations Study," conducted in Scotland and England and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The Principal Investigator (PI) of the study is at the University of Stirling; two co-PIs are at the University of Edinburgh, School of Health in Social Sciences, and affiliated with the Drugs Research Network for Scotland (DRNS).
The "Suburban Opioid Study (SOS) - Providing for Opioid-using Mothers and Pregnant Women who need Treatment (PrOMPT)," hereafter referred to as the "Mothers Study," was conducted in Newark, New Jersey and New Haven, Connecticut. The study was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The aims of this study were: (1) To identify barriers to health and social services and resources needed by pregnant women and mothers who use opioids; (2) To determine the impact of suburban governing agencies on the women and their families; (3) To examine challenges pregnant women and mothers who use opioids faced during the COVID-19 lockdown and social isolation policies.
Women who use opioids while pregnant or mothers of small children are a growing sub-population of people who use opioids. They are intensely governed by child protection agencies putting them at risk of losing custody of their children. In the US, when mothers become involved in the criminal justice system they are subject to increased scrutiny and stigmatization, facing additional barriers to the healthcare and social services they need.
Both the Relations Study and the Mothers Study used ethnographic methods and collected qualitative in-depth interview data from mothers who used opioids (e.g., prescription pain medications, heroin, fentanyl, and opioid medication treatment such as methadone). Data collection is complete for both studies.
This Fulbright Research Project includes two aims:
1) The primary research aim is to conduct a secondary analysis of the interview and ethnographic data collected in the Relations Study in the UK and the Mothers Study in the USA with the goal to extend the impact of the findings and provide international perspectives on policy and practice for future guidance.
2) A secondary aim is to participate in workshops, seminars, and knowledge-exchange events within the University of Edinburgh, the DRNS, and the wider academic community on ethnographic methods, qualitative data analysis, digital technologies used in research, and policy implications to foster future collaborations.
This Fulbright opportunity will facilitate international collaboration aimed at producing impactful research in the realm of parental drug use policy and practices governing mothers who use drugs.