Prevention of Drug Use and Treatment of Drug Use Disorders in Rural Settings

This Guide on Prevention of Drug Use and Treatment of Drug Use Disorders in Rural Settings was prepared by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Drug Prevention and Health Branch (DHB), in the context of the global project Treatnet II: OFID-UNODC Programme to prevent HIV/AIDS through Treatnet Phase II, with the aim of providing an awareness-raising tool and guidance for policymakers, public health officials, local authorities and other stakeholders in dealing with substance use issues in rural settings in their respective countries. This Guide will serve as an awareness-raising tool and guidance for policymakers, public health officials, local authorities and other stakeholders in dealing with substance use issues in rural settings in their respective countries. It will “set the stage” for the identification, assessment, planning and implementation of both prevention interventions and policies, as well as interventions targeting rural drug users, by: Describing substance use problems in rural settings and factors contributing to them. Identifying tools that can be used to assess the scope of rural substance use in their countries. Describing evidence-based prevention, treatment and recovery strategies that can be implemented in rural areas. Providing examples of successful promising and evidence-based strategies implemented in diverse rural areas worldwide. This Guide is intended to be shared widely with policymakers and other stakeholders concerned with the problems of substance use in rural settings. It provides an understanding of several key economic and social disparities driving rural substance use and the barriers to treatment experienced by rural people with substance use disorders

Case Study of Learning and Instruction for Members of an Online Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Support Group

Research has shown that individual members of traditional support groups gain a sense of identity and community and feelings of respect and support. Online support groups provide individuals avenues to find medical information and thus learn more about a given condition or illness. Little has been studied about the learning and instruction that occurs in online social support groups, especially in groups about chronic pain. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perceptions and experiences of members who participated in one open social support group. Siemen\u27s constructivism theory served as the basis for comprehending the learning and instruction that took place in this group, and the research questions focused on the support group members\u27 perceptions of this learning and instruction. Data were collected from 10 individuals who participated in a Facebook Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy support group. Yin\u27s case study framework provided additional support data analysis. Data were collected through individual, semistructured telephone interviews and observations of online discussions. A combination of open and axial coding was used to support content analysis. Themes identified were learning, knowledge, persuasion, and acceptance of underlying negativity. Online social support group participation involved shared experiences that facilitated learning and instruction; these findings could influence the structures of other support groups. Positive social change occurs when individuals are knowledgeable and well educated about social support groups because it is in these groups that trends, issues, and new information are learned. Informal learning occurs with the increased digital skills, especially within a person\u27s virtual support network

How individuals experience and make sense of their problematic mephedrone use : an interpretative phenomenological analysis

There has been a significant increase in the number of people using club drugs and entering treatment for problematic club drug use in the United Kingdom. It has been suggested, based on socio-demographics, that the treatment needs of such users are different from those of users of traditional drugs, and consequently specialist club drug clinics were introduced. However, to date no research has explored the subjective experience of problematic club drug use to substantiate an understanding of users’ psychological treatment needs or the subjective psychological motivations to use club drugs, or how such users self-identify rather than being categorised in terms of socio-demographics. This research aims to answer these questions, with a focus on mephedrone, one of the most newly identified and popularly used club drugs in the United Kingdom. Semi-structured interviews with six male users of mephedrone were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings suggested that the subjective experience of mephedrone use is like that of traditional drug use, and consequently that corresponding users’ psychological treatment needs are similar. The subjective motivation to use mephedrone was primarily concerned with a want to appease identity distress, a common precursor to substance misuse. Users of mephedrone appeared to make sense of their problematic use by progressing through the stages of change. Moreover, findings implied that stigmatising beliefs operated within the drug-using community, which facilitated the social construction of mephedrone as harmless in comparison to traditional drugs. This perception was found to be further propagated by terminology such as “club drugs” that are used within the professional arena and represent mephedrone as “fun”. Not only did the socially constructed image of mephedrone as harmless and fun encourage its use, it appeared to prevent users self-identifying with the stereotypical identity of problematic substance misuse commonly associated with traditional drug use. This potentially acted as a barrier against users of club drugs seeking treatment from generalised services based on the needs of traditional drug use, thus highlighting the necessity for specialised club drug clinics. Implications of this research include introducing the under-represented area of problematic substance misuse to counselling psychology to promote the applicability of counselling psychologists to work in this field. This research fills the imperative training gap experienced by healthcare professionals based in the United Kingdom in relation to the understanding of problematic club drug use, and does so by providing subjective knowledge of the experience of problematic mephedrone use in order to develop the psychological treatments delivered. Furthermore, this research advocates the introduction of policies that would reduce the harm caused by mephedrone and demystify its socially constructed image. One such policy would be to suggest interventions to distribute information concerning the harms associated with mephedrone. Another would be to reframe the professional language used to describe club drugs. Lastly, this study highlights the need for further investigation into the stigmatising beliefs operating within the drug-using community that potentially act as a barrier preventing users of mephedrone from seeking treatment

Baystate Medical Practices Annual Report - 2018

https://scholarlycommons.libraryinfo.bhs.org/bmpannual_report/1003/thumbnail.jp

McNair Research Journal - Summer 2015

Journal articles based on research conducted by undergraduate students in the McNair Scholars Program Table of Contents Biography of Dr. Ronald E. McNair Statements: Dr. Neal J. Smatresk, UNLV President Dr. Juanita P. Fain, Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. William W. Sullivan, Associate Vice President for Retention and Outreach Mr. Keith Rogers, Deputy Executive Director of the Center for Academic Enrichment and Outreach McNair Scholars Institute Staf

Alcohol, tobacco and other drugs: clinical guidelines for nurses and midwives

Version 3edited by C. de Crespigny & J. Talme