Selective review and commentary on emerging pharmacotherapies for opioid addiction.

Pharmacotherapies for opioid addiction under active development in the US include lofexidine (primarily for managing withdrawal symptoms) and Probuphine®, a distinctive mode of delivering buprenorphine for six months, thus relieving patients, clinicians, and regulatory personnel from most concerns about diversion, misuse, and unintended exposure in children. In addition, two recently approved formulations of previously proven medications are in early phases of implementation. The sublingual film form of buprenorphine + naloxone (Suboxone®) provides a less divertible, more quickly administered, more child-proof version than the buprenorphine + naloxone sublingual tablet. The injectable depot form of naltrexone (Vivitrol®) ensures consistent opioid receptor blockade for one month between administrations, removing concerns about medication compliance. The clinical implications of these developments have attracted increasing attention from clinicians and policymakers in the US and around the world, especially given that human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and other infectious diseases are recognized as companions to opioid addiction, commanding more efforts to reduce opioid addiction. While research and practice improvement efforts continue, reluctance to adopt new medications and procedures can be expected, especially considerations in the regulatory process and in the course of implementation. Best practices and improved outcomes will ultimately emerge from continued development efforts that reflect input from many quarters

Predicting interpersonal competence and self-worth from adolescent relationships and relationship networks: Variable-centered and person-centered perspectives

A two-year longitudinal investigation examined adolescents\u27 (N = 100 girls and 99 boys) perceptions of social support in relationships with mothers, close friends, and romantic partners from Grade 10 (ages 14-16) to Grade 12 (ages 16-18). Adolescents, mothers, and close friends also provided descriptions of the participants\u27 global self-worth and interpersonal competence. Variable-centered and person-centered analyses revealed that perceived social support tends to be similar across relationships and stable over time. Variable-centered analyses indicated that social support in mother-adolescent relationships was uniquely related to adolescent global self-worth; that social support in close friendships was uniquely related to social acceptance, friendship competence, and romantic competence; and that social support in romantic relationships was uniquely related to romantic competence. Person-centered analyses indicated that adolescents who reported high social support in all three relationships had higher selfworth and greater interpersonal competence than those who did not have a romantic relationship and who reported low social support in relationships with mothers and close friends; and that scores for adolescents who had a romantic relationship but who reported low social support in all three relationships fell in between these two groups. Taken together, variable-centered analyses suggest that different relationships influence different dimensions of competence, but person-centered analyses indicate that a sizable proportion of adolescents have relationships that act in concert with one another. Copyright © 2006 by Wayne State University Press

Women in contact with the Northern Rivers and Mid North Coast LGBTQ communities: Report of the SWASH Lesbian, Bisexual and Queer Women’s Health Survey 2018

A lack of systematic, nuanced research on the health and wellbeing of Australian lesbian, bisexual and queer (LBQ) women has been a significant barrier to understanding, recognising and addressing their health needs. At worst, LBQ women’s health needs have been largely ignored. At best, they have been considered to be synonymous with general women’s health. While sex between women is considered relatively low risk to health, a range of social, psychological and economic factors mean that this minority group has poorer health outcomes than their heterosexual peers. Stigma, family and community rejection and discrimination can impact on health and wellbeing, the delivery of health services, and women’s access to services. The SWASH survey is a comprehensive survey of important health issues relevant to LBQ and other non-heterosexual identifying women engaged with Sydney’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) communities. The survey covers sexual health and wellbeing, violence, mental health, tobacco use, illicit drug use, alcohol consumption, and cancer screening behaviours. SWASH has run every two years since 1996, and since 2009 has been run by researchers at the University of Sydney in collaboration with ACON. The survey is regularly revised to reflect the needs of LGBTQ communities and knowledge deficits identified through research literature. Where possible, questions are sourced from established national surveys such as the Australian Health Survey (AHS), National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS), Australian Study of Health and Relationships (ASHR), and Australian Longitudinal Survey of Women’s Health (ALSWH). SWASH provides a much needed local evidence base to inform best practice in healthcare and prevention for chronic diseases, mental health and wellbeing, sexual and reproductive health and ageing. Full background on the SWASH project and the results from the 2018 survey can be found in the main SWASH report. For the 2018 iteration of SWASH, we undertook sustained community engagement in the Northern Rivers and Mid North Coast region of NSW to generate sufficient numbers for a regional analysis. The SWASH NR-MNC report presents results based on surveys where participants who resided in this region.ACO

Investigating local policy drivers for alcohol harm prevention: a comparative case study of two local authorities in England

AbstractBackground The recent transfer of public health teams to local authorities in England offers opportunities for new policy approaches to tackling alcohol harm. The new responsible authority status of directors of public health, for example with regard to licensing applications, raises the prospect of reducing excessive alcohol consumption through local availability measures. Local authorities are also responsible for the commissioning of community-based treatment services. We used a case study approach to identify the major drivers and characteristics of local alcohol policies and services in two contrasting local authorities. Methods The many sources used were semi-structured interviews with key informants, including two in public health, two in licensing and trading standards, one in the police, and one information specialist; documentary analysis, including two alcohol strategies; two statements of licensing policy; and field observation (attending a licensing committee hearing). Focusing on alcohol harm prevention programmes and their underlying objectives, we used storyboards and constant comparative methods to describe and explain differences in the alcohol policy landscape between the two local authorities. Ethics approval was obtained from the University of Sheffield Ethics Committee. Findings Substantial differences in the stated priorities of alcohol harm prevention strategies were shown in the contrasting policy responses of the two local authorities. Concern about how best to reduce high rates of alcohol-related hospital admissions in local authority 1 led to an emphasis on health-service approaches, such as screening and brief intervention, whereas a public disorder focus in local authority 2 resulted in policies aimed at reducing availability through licensing measures. Perceived tensions were apparent for local authority 1 between maintaining a supportive environment for local businesses at a time of economic recession and introducing policy measures with a regulatory focus. Field observations highlighted the underlying importance of well-functioning working relationships between licensees and all responsible authorities, for achieving acceptable implementation plans for novel policies. Resource constraints and a lack of clear policy champions were also barriers to more preventive measures in local authority 1. Interpretation Devolved responsibility for alcohol harm prevention clearly presents the potential for local authorities to tailor policies closely to their identified population needs. The exercising of responsible authority status in reducing availability through licensing approaches is best achieved however when fully integrated into the full spectrum of alcohol harm reduction activities, from prevention through to treatment-based interventions

Lesbian, Bisexual and Queer (LBQ) Women’s Tobacco Reduction Project Community Report Online Survey Findings

Cancer Institute NSW, ACON Health, Sydney School of Public Healt

016— Quality of College Students’ Close Peer Relationships

This study compares the quality of different types of college students’ relationships: same-sex (SS) friendships, other-sex (OS) friendships, and romantic relationships. Previous research by Hand and Furman (2009) indicated that adolescents perceived their OS friendships as less supportive than both their SS friendships and romantic relationships. Adolescents also perceived their OS friendships as having less conflict than their romantic relationships. The current study attempts to replicate these findings with college students, who tend to have more time and opportunity to develop close OS friendships. In addition, we examine the power dynamic in these relationships, as well as several factors of each type of relationship, including length of the current relationship and previous experience with each type of relationship

Women in contact with the Sydney gay and lesbian community: Report of the Sydney Women and Sexual Health (SWASH) Survey 2006, 2008 and 2010

The Sydney Women and Sexual Health (SWASH) survey was first carried out in 1996. It was initiated by workers from two ACON projects, Women Partners of Gay and Bisexual Men and the Gay and Lesbian Injecting Drug Use Project, who were faced with a lack of empirical evidence on which to base their intervention work. While research on same-sex-attracted women’s health and wellbeing has increased since then, epidemiological data on sexual health, mental health, experiences of abuse and violence and behaviours such as screening, illicit drug use, alcohol and smoking that can leave women vulnerable to adverse health outcomes, is still scarce. Moreover, as long as the inclusion of sexuality questions in large epidemiological surveys remains patchy or data is reported only by sexuality and not by sexuality and gender, SWASH provides a unique and important source of health-related information in Australian lesbian, bisexual and queer (LBQ) women. SWASH has been run biennially since 1996 by a collaboration of ACON and researchers at the University of New South Wales (until 2009), and now the University of Sydney (since 2010). The survey is regularly revised to reflect the needs of the community and research needs identified through research literature. Over its lifetime, SWASH has become a comprehensive survey of sexual health and wellbeing, violence, mental health and levels of psychological distress, and a number of other important health issues relevant to LBQ women, such as illicit drug use, alcohol consumption, and cancer screening behaviours. Where possible, questions have been used from established national surveys such as the National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS), the Australian Study of Health and Relationships (ASHR), and the Australian Longitudinal Survey of Women’s Health (ALSWH). This report presents results from surveys collected at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Fair Day and other community events and venues during the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras seasons in 2006, 2008 and 2010

Experience-based investigation and codesign of approaches to prevent and reduce Mental Health Act use (CO-PACT): a protocol

INTRODUCTION: The Independent Review of the Mental Health Act (MHA) in England and Wales confirmed increasing levels of compulsory detentions, especially for racialised communities. This research aims to: (a) understand the causes of and propose preventive opportunities to reduce the disproportionate use of the MHA, (b) use an adapted form of experience-based codesign (EBCD) to facilitate system-wide changes and (c) foreground the voices of service users at risk of detention to radically reform policy and implement new legislation to ensure the principles of equity are retained. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a qualitative study, using a comparative case study design. This study is composed of five work packages; photovoice workshops will be conducted in eight local systems with service users and healthcare professionals separately (WP1); a series of three EBCD workshops in each local system to develop approaches that reduce detentions and improve the experience of people from racialised communities. This will inform a comparative analysis and national knowledge exchange workshop (WP2); an evaluation led by the patient and public involvement group to better understand what it is like for people to participate in photovoice, codesign and participatory research (WP3); an economic evaluation (WP4) and dissemination strategy (WP5). The impact of the involvement of patients and public will be independently evaluated. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study is sponsored by the University of Oxford and granted ethical approval from the NHS Research Ethics Committee and Health Research Authority (21/SC/0204). The outputs from this study will be shared through several local and national channels

Documentation in the Middle: Active Phase Project Documentation for Inclusive and Effective Team-Based Research

Documentation is an essential component of good data management and yet data service providers often struggle to provide effective support to researchers. There are materials available for creating or assisting researchers with documentation at the beginning and end of a project; from data management plans to documenting data for archival purposes. However, we don’t yet have a solid understanding of how research teams incorporate (or not) documentation into their everyday work. This poster reports on a project to investigate, analyze, and synthesize real and ideal documentation practices within research teams in order to develop a universal project manual documentation template. It is our contention that a “lab manual” or “project organization protocol” will enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of research teams, while creating an inclusive environment by making local practices and expectations clear to all team members regardless of previous research experience and disciplinary background. The goal of this project is to identify the basic considerations that any researcher from any discipline should consider for their local documentation in support of team-based research projects.https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137704/1/Documentation in the Middle.pdf-1Description of Documentation in the Middle.pdf : 2017 IASSIST Poste