Community Substance Research Articles

The Role of the Psychiatric Nurse in a Community Substance Abuse Prevention Program

There is an increasing awareness of the need for prevention of substance abuse related problems. The psychiatric nurse is especially equipped to strengthen the bonds among citizens and parents, health agencies and schools, law enforcement and hospitals to assist the community in the design and implementation of its own prevention program. The nurse is able to facilitate the community's own vested interests in a manner congruent with its needs. The nature and scope of nursing practice have traditionally included responses to health-conducive behavior. The nurse emphasizes self-determination and choice in health matters; therefore, substance abuse prevention efforts are likely to be incorporated by the community. The nurse provides the knowledge of addiction and abuse and assists the community in its health enhancement by using addiction and nursing theory, interpersonal process, research competencies, and teaching skills.

Follow-up of Outpatient Referrals from a Psychiatric Emergency Room

This article reports on the findings of a follow-up study of a cohort of 114 patients who were evaluated at a psychiatric emergency room and were referred to community mental health and substance abuse agencies. Two-thirds subsequently made contact with these agencies, but fewer made contact with the agency to which they were specifically referred. Few kept their scheduled appointment. Prior experience with an agency, as was a client's diagnosis, were related to agency contact. Considerations for social workers to increase patients' ability to complete referrals for treatment are addressed.

Outpatient compliance of psychiatric emergency room patients by presenting problems.

In the present study, a cohort of patients who came to a psychiatric emergency room in a general hospital, and were not referred for hospitalization, were analyzed in regard to the amount and rate of subsequent contact with community mental health and substance abuse agencies. Patterns of service receipt and the differential impact of service use on hospitalization and/or return visits were analyzed by three major problem types: (1) psychiatric; (2) psychiatric/substance abuse; and (3) substance abuse. The analysis of these subgroups yielded valuable information about how the service system and/or different groups of patients in crisis respond to the system.

Reducing the incidence of adolescent problems through preventive intervention: one- and five-year follow-up.

The conceptual importance of preventive interventions rests upon their ability to produce effects across time, settings, and behaviors. The present studies investigate whether a school-based preventive intervention, for high-risk adolescents, which has shown short-term effects of reducing predisposing factors, will show long-term effects of reducing school and community delinquency problems and substance abuse. School records and interviews 1 year after the program and arrest records at 5 years all suggest that the intervention reduced delinquency problems. The evidence was less clear for substance abuse. It was concluded that a better method for detecting substance abuse is needed before that question can be answered. The paper also discusses processes that may have mediated the delinquency results and implications for future prevention research.