By Elisa Cavalcaselle
Comune di Bologna
Last month the Municipality of Bologna managed a focus group with the stakeholders, to update everyone and discuss together the first results of the SRAP project’s research-action, in order to capture the emerging needs in the Sinti and Roma areas and begin to think how to build a transferable model for drug prevention.
It should be emphasized that these results would not have been achieved without a previous long period of work in the Sinti/Roma areas, where Bologna’s operators built good relationships based on daily attendance.
The fundamental aspects that emerged from the focus and interviews concerning cultural attitudes highlighted a shared condemn of drugs within Sinti and Roma communities, nonetheless it came out that alcohol is not considered as substance and its use is general well tolerated, especially if made by men. In fact, gender difference appeared to be very marked. Usually the knowledge of drugs and of their effects seemed to be very superficial, made of stereotypes and hearsay. The research also highlighted the important role of the family, especially for younger kids, and the great importance for the older ones of other figures such as their peers and their girlfriend/boyfriend. The relationship with cousins, who are in general the best friends, is really crucial for young Roma. In general there is little communication with parents about drug use in all contexts, young people feel ashamed of talking about consumption with their family, since parents’ reactions to drugs is usually negative and violent.
It was very interesting to note that Sinti and Roma families welcomed the operators and the fact that they intendended to face the issue of drug prevention with the kids, and also it was really important to discover that young Roma’s behaviour towards the use of substances is very similar to the behaviour of all adolescents. In general, it came out that there is a need to work more on the similiarities than on the differences in building prevention actions, since young Roma and Sinti are also exposed to all the risks existing outside their areas, where they have not their families’ protection. For the future, it could be helpful to work also with a control group, made by other adolescents not belonging to ethnic groups
In conclusion, all the participants agreed to work together in order to build common strategies, since the issue of drug consumption/prevention must be placed within a broader context, where it is crucial to face job inclusion, school dropout and health/social conditions.
Social workers will need to face also Roma and Sinti adults, to spread the perception of work as a value. To build prevention actions it will be necessary to take into account the strong relationship between cousins, the great gender difference and the lack of communication within the families, as well as the poor knowledge of drugs’ effects.
