Injury associated with methamphetamine use: A review of the literature

This paper reviews the literature exploring issues around methamphetamine and injury. There was a paucity of peer reviewed quantitative research and a lack of large scale epidemiological studies. Further sources described cases and others described injury risk as part of an overall review of methamphetamine misuse. Thus, a number of limitations and potential biases exist within the literature. The main areas where associations were noted or extrapolated with methamphetamine use and injury were around driving and violence. Other associations with injury related to methamphetamine manufacture. There was also circumstantial evidence for third party injury (that is injury to those not specifically involved in drug use or drug manufacture); however, the available data are inadequate to confirm these associations/risks

Blaming children for child pedestrian injuries

Pedestrian injuries are a leading cause of childhood mortality. In this paper a case study of a child pedestrian death is presented in order to examine the apportionment of responsibility for child pedestrian injuries. The case presented illustrates how responsibility is located with the child, whilst structural contributors, in particular aspects of the transport system, are ignored. The strength and pervasiveness of the ideology of victim blaming in child pedestrian injuries is explained by the special position that the road transport system holds in relation to dominant economic interests. Victim blaming ideology is a strategy that serves to maintain these interests at the expense and suffering of children. Increased recognition of the political roots of the ideology of victim blaming in child pedestrian injuries, by the sectors of the community who suffer its consequences, will be an important step towards effective preventive action.pedestrian injury injury prevention ideology

Suicide: Qualitative data from focus group interviews with youth

Suicide is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among people aged 15-24 years of age. This paper illustrates the use of focus groups with young people to enhance knowledge of ways to address youth suicide. Analysis of the findings identified three themes perceived by participants as being warning signs of a suicidal friend (personality changes, risk-taking behaviour and unusual actions). An important finding, which has implications for the planning of further suicide prevention strategies, was that young people would either cope alone or turn to a friend if they were feeling suicidal. The fact that a lack of knowledge was identified as the major barrier to youth using existing services/resources suggests that health promotion awareness campaigns which provide information on where young people could access help need to be developed. The use of focus groups with young people has provided valuable insights into ways to address youth suicide. We urge other researchers to incorporate similar methodologies.suicide youth focus groups qualitative

Problematising depression: young people, mental health and suicidal behaviours

The published literature provides strong evidence for connections between mental health issues, such as depression, and suicidal behaviours. However, in spite of this, no investigations to date have explored young people's perceptions of the interconnections between depression, and suicidal behaviours. This article presents discussive analyses of discussions of the contributions of depression to their suicidal behaviours of young people in New Zealand. Two dominant discourses of depression emerged: a medicalised discourse, and a moral discourse. The medicalised discourse was accessible to the majority of participants, and constructed depression as a disease. This discourse prioritised the voices of health professionals and suggested that depression was difficult to resist. The moral discourse was an alternative to the medicalised discourse, and constructed young people who experienced depression and suicidal behaviours as failures. Both discourses were informed by a mechanistic cause-and-effect relationship between depression and suicidal behaviours: attempting suicide was seen as an inevitable outcome of experiencing depression, and suicidal behaviours were inevitably undertaken by young people who were depressed. Resistance to either of these dominant discourses was problematic, and was best articulated during discussions of the stigma associated with mental ill-health and depression.Depression Young people Suicidal behaviours New Zealand

Mental health services and sexual abuse: the need for staff training

Identification of child abuse by mental health services is important for formulation of the causes of presenting problems and for development of comprehensive treatment plans. A small but growing number of studies suggest, however, that the majority of child sexual abuse cases are not identified by mental health services. A similarly small literature also suggests that abuse survivors are extremely reluctant to spontaneously tell anyone about the abuse, indicating that professionals have a responsibility to ask rather than wait for spontaneous disclosures. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to add to these two bodies of literature with a New Zealand sample. A postal questionnaire was completed by 191 women who had received counselling for childhood sexual abuse. The average amount of time taken to tell anyone about the abuse was 16 years. Only 22% of those who had been in contact with public mental health services had ever been asked about abuse by those services. It was concluded that New Zealand women are reluctant to disclose abuse and that mental health services are, as is the case elsewhere, failing to assist them with this process. The need for staff training is discussed, and an example described