Prevention Of Misuse Research Articles

Security of Radioactive Material at Academic Institutions

In recent years, regulatory emphasis on the prevention of loss, theft and intentional misuse of radioactive materials at academic institutions has forced radiation safety personnel to devote increasing amounts of time and effort to address security issues. NRC regulations require that radioactive materials used or stored in controlled or unrestricted areas be secure from unauthorized removal or be under constant surveillance when in use. This leaves open to interpretation what types of security are required for radioactive materials in restricted areas. Adhering to the goal of keeping exposures As Low As Reasonable Achievable (ALARA), a risk-based system for radioactive materials security in a university setting is proposed based on Annual Limits of Intake (ALI). This system establishes levels of security based on physical form, activity and concentration. Using this system, radiation safety personnel can more effectively establish reasonable security measures for radioactive material consistent with minimizing the realistic potential of serious harm or injury.

Family-Based Interventions for Substance Use and Misuse Prevention

Because “substance abuse” is a “family disease” of lifestyle, including both genetic and family environmental causes, effective family strengthening prevention programs should be included in all comprehensive substance abuse prevention activities. This article presents reviews of causal models of substance use and evidence-based practices. National searches by the authors suggest that there is sufficient research evidence to support broad dissemination of five highly effective family strengthening approaches (e.g., behavioral parent training, family skills training, in-home family support, brief family therapy, and family education). Additionally, family approaches have average effect sizes two to nine time larger than child-only prevention approaches. Comprehensive prevention programs combining both approaches produced much larger effect sizes. The Strengthening Families Program (SFP) is the only one of these programs that has been replicated with positive results by independent researchers with different cultural groups and with different ages of children. Few research-based programs have been adopted by practitioners, partly because of technology transfer issues. Overall, research on ways to improve dissemination, marketing, training, and funding is needed to improve adoption of effective prevention programs.

The Psychology of Alcohol and Other Drugs. A Research Perspective.

This single author text book identifies its target audience as psychology and social science students in the US, but its potential readership is much wider. This is a substantial book, which covers the epidemiology, aetiology, prevention and treatment of substance misuse, together with a methodical analysis of practice and research. The author justifies his focus on alcohol, because of its status …

Substance Misuse Services in Primary Health Care

Introduction: Substance misuse remains the largest cause of preventable morbidity and mortality in the UK. As the first port of call for advice and care, the Primary Health Care (PHC) setting offers an ideal opportunity for prevention of substance misuse. The most basic activity is to ask patients whether they use specific substances. Methods: All practices within four Health Authorities across South London were targeted. A self-completion questionnaire for PHC staff was designed for demographic information and previous training on substance misuse. Information on services provided by the practice was requested from the Practice Manager only. Results: Twenty-five per cent (104/417) of the practices responded. Seventy-four per cent reported providing smoking, 76% alcohol and 81% drug services, and 67% reported providing all three. There was no significant association between services provided and PHC professionals' training in substance misuse. Discussion: Less than half the practices reported screening their patients for smoking and drinking, and less than a third for drug use; a much greater number reported referring to specialist services for alcohol and drug use. This indicates that PHC professionals tend to engage with this health concern when the problem has escalated and specialist referral is required. A methodological limitation to this study is the low response rates and the possibility of a response bias in those who did respond.

Prevention of Drug Misuse for First Grade Primary School Pupils

The goal of the project was to help young children to understand some basic issues about drugs, and to test out the effectiveness of the preventive programme with this age group. The preventive programme was implemented 20 times, reaching 800 children. The programme, which lasts 60 minutes, consisted of video, a fairy-tale, plays with puppets, and it encourages the active participation of children, who have to answer questions and take part in some of the scenes, which cover each of three themes of the programme (namely health, alcohol and drugs). A picture test was constructed to measure the effectiveness of the programme. The test consisted of five pictures (relating to relevant parts of the programme): three represented wrong situations and two correct ones. In this picture test, the children proved that they gained useful knowledge from the programme. In the area of health 95% of the children answered correctly, the pictures on alcohol consumption were selected correctly by 86%, although the drugs' pictures were correctly selected by only 52% of the children.

Traditionalism in the Prevention of Substance Misuse among Puerto Ricans

Data are presented from a multicluster stratified sample of 1,084 Puerto Rican households in the New York City area. Researchers examined the impact of loss of traditional Hispanic family-oriented gender role values and degree of acculturation upon drug use. Sociodemographic variables are presented. Indices of “traditionalism” and “acculturation” were created, validated, and correlated with drug use. Traditionalism was found to covary negatively with drug use, but more so for women. The positive relationship between acculturation and drug use was found to be influenced by different levels of traditionalism. Implications for treatment and prevention are discussed.

Policy improvements for prevention of alcohol misuse by airline pilots.

Alcohol abuse by airline pilots poses a potential danger to the safety and welfare of the flying public. This paper analyzes two strategies for reducing pilot-error aviation accidents: conducting background checks on pilots for driving-while-intoxicated (DWI) convictions and random preflight alcohol testing of airline pilots. Although both policies have been implemented, no empirical research had previously been conducted to justify either strategy. The results and conclusions of this study are based on analysis of data obtained from the Federal Aviation Administration on the flying performance of 70164 airline pilots. DWI convictions were found to be associated with a significantly greater risk of a pilot-error accident. In contrast, no evidence was found to validate the assumption that a random alcohol testing program could have prevented accidents. The results provide support for improving the existing DWI background check program and for reducing the sampling rate of random alcohol testing for airline pilots. This twofold strategy could result in greater improvements in aviation safety and reduced overall costs.

Drug Misuse and HIV Prevention: Attitudes and Practices of Community Pharmacists with Respect to two London Family Health Services Authorities

This study investigated community pharmacists' attitudes, knowledge and involvement in service provision to drug misusers. A postal questionnaire was sent to all community pharmacies in two central London Family Health Service Authorities (N = 285). A 54% response rate was obtained. Over one half were involved in dispensing controlled drugs and selling sterile injecting equipment and 13% involved in needle exchange. However, there was evidence that respondents negatively stigmatised drug misusers and this tendency was greater the longer the respondent had been a community pharmacist, but those providing services to drug misusers had more positive attitudes towards persons with HIV and drug misusers when compared to non-providers. Service provision was positively associated with confidence in one's knowledge about HIV and drug misuse with regard to counselling clients. Issues surrounding professional training are discussed.

Prevention of alcohol misuse: a review of health promotion efforts among American Indians.

The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of a wide range of potentially useful strategies to address the prevention of alcohol misuse among American Indians. This broad approach to the review is useful because the extreme heterogeneity of the American Indian population requires that health promotion professionals explore many options and tailor their activities to specific communities. A literature search was initiated through MEDLINE using the following key words: prevention, alcohol, substance abuse, American Indian, and Native American. The search yielded 29 articles from the years 1982 through 1994. These articles, along with 45 previously identified in three overview articles, form the basis of the review and discussion in this paper. As a group, American Indians experience many health problems that are related to alcohol misuse. Comparison of Indians to non-Indians shows that the age of first involvement with alcohol is younger, the frequency and amount of drinking is greater, and negative consequences are more common. Health promotion programs that address these issues must take into account American Indian heterogeneity and should use a comprehensive approach that addresses both heavy drinking and the sequelae of problems related to alcohol misuse. Important concepts for providing health promotion services to this population are: cultural relevance must be carefully planned and monitored; individuals in the local community must be involved; the drunken Indian stereotype must be addressed; and community empowerment should be an important goal.

DRINKING HABITS OF MEDICAL STUDENTS CALL FOR BETTER INTEGRATION OF TEACHING ABOUT ALCOHOL INTO THE MEDICAL CURRICULUM

A study was conducted with medical students to observe their drinking habits and alcohol misuse. The students completed questionnaires composed of AUDIT and SMAST questions. A significant proportion (33%) of students drank more than the recommended safe limit and screened positive at the AUDIT cut-off score of 11. The high scores of DSM-III criterion questions indicate that problem drinking on college campuses continues to be a significant public health concern. Our opinion is that prevention of alcohol misuse should be started at medical universities. The medical school curriculum must integrate education about alcohol. First the attitude of medical professionals should be changed so that we can achieve results in alcohol misuse prevention in society as a whole.

Alcohol misuse and the predisposing environement

In recent years, the aetiology of alcohol misuse has come to be conceptualised in terms of risk factor models. Risk can emanate from a number of sources ranging from the genetic to the sociostructural. This chapter reviews the major environmental risk factors under two broad headings--those that affect the availability of the agent and those that affect the vulnerability of the host. The former include a variety of economic, social and physical factors such as price, advertising and licensing laws. The latter include broad socioeconomic and sociocultural factors, as well as interpersonal influences such as family, peers, employment and stress. Practitioners (as distinct from policy-makers) concerned with prevention and treatment of alcohol misuse can most effectively intervene at the interpersonal level, and the paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for clinical practice of the research reviewed in this domain.

Covert Assertion as a Method for Coping with Pain and Pain Related Behaviors

The present case study describes an elderly mental health client with a long history of medication misuse, who in recent years also experienced back pain. Behavior analysis revealed that interpersonal conflicts or negative emotional states usually preceded pain "flare-ups" and subsequent medication misuse. Cognitive-behavioral treatment consisting of covert assertion, a combination of thoughtstopping with positive self-talk, allowed her to manage pain and cope with its antecedents. Treatment resulted in decreases in pain flare-ups, medication use and noncompliance, depression, and anxiety. Success was maintained throughout a one year follow-up. Relapse of medication misuse occurred three years post-treatment, following an injury and transfer of care to a new physician. The results support the use of cognitive-behavioral approaches in the prevention and management of pain, and suggest physicians' roles in the prevention of medication misuse.

Development of a District Training Strategy

This paper reiterates the need for training in addiction for primary care workers and proposes motivational and structural explanatory frameworks to further our understanding of the difficulties in recruitment of staff from the variety of occupational groups to substance misuse training. This analysis is applied to inform the design and delivery of training locally. The basic tenets of a district training strategy are derived from this analysis and the training strategy for the two Leeds District Health Authorities is described. The strategy is based upon identification of the specific occupational needs of each primary care worker group at each stage of their career, and upon the utilization of available resources to fulfil their training needs in the occupation specific context. The different occupational groups have different roles to play in the prevention and management of substance misuse and the specific skills required will be closely tied into their particular role and based upon pre-existing skills. The resources for and methods of implementing the strategy are described.

Minimal and Self-help Methods in the Secondary Prevention of Alcohol Misuse

Social workers are ideally placed for the secondary prevention of alcohol misuse because of their involvement in outpatient departments and public welfare settings. If social workers are to incorporate addiction work into their existing duties however, they will need brief intervention methods that can be offered as part of a more comprehensive casework plan. This paper looks at some promising developments in the area of minimal and self-help methods for use within community-based health and welfare agencies.

Drug misuse and AIDS prevention: policy on the right track.

Drug misuse and AIDS prevention: policy on the right track.

A volatile time for British drug policies: commentary on the editorial by Alan Glanz.

The following commentary is in response to the Editorial ‘Drug Misuse and AIDS Prevention. Policy on the Right Track’ by Alan Glanz—British Journal of Addiction Vol. 83, pp. 1237-1239 (preceding article in this issue).

Why people attend seminars on drug misuse

SEMINARS in Kent attracted 1200 people. Eight hun dred and sixty four, responding to a questionnaire, gave reasons why they had attended. Two-thirds of the audience were female, and one-third were under 35 years of age. Prevention of drug misuse and how to help were considered important topics by the older age groups, but the younger members of the audi ence were more interested in drugs available, their appearance and effect on people. Only a minority in each age group gave helping a person with a drug misuse problem as a reason for attending the seminar.

Classroom Program for the Prevention of Vocal Abuse and Hoarseness in Elementary School Children

This investigation was designed to (a) develop a preventative program for vocal hygiene; (b) determine whether a group of elementary school-aged children can be made aware of the function and proper use of the vocal folds and develop skills for the prevention of vocal misuse; and (c) determine whether classroom teachers of these children can improve skills needed to identify vocal abuse. The subjects were 155 second and third-grade school children 6–8 years old and their classroom teachers. A program for the prevention of vocal abuse and hoarseness was presented in four lessons, The subjects were tested prior to receiving the program to determine their knowledge and awareness of vocal abusive situations. All subjects were retested following the program and again 5 months later. The results showed that both children and teachers benefited from the program. There were positive changes in vocal abuse and self-monitoring skills. The program used in this study has important implications for meeting the needs of the public school speech-language pathologist.

Solvent misuse: educational implications.

1 This article confines itself to an investigation of the possible educational strategies which might be helpful in the prevention of solvent misuse. The empirical evidence for the effectiveness, or otherwise, of the drug education generally is examined and from this the appropriateness of various approaches is assessed. 2 A model unit of teaching material which can be used in a prevention of solvent misuse programme is offered. 3 A brief discussion of some of the ethical considerations related to education about solvent misuse is presented.

Methadonverstrekking en Opiumwet

In Western Germany treatment of heroin addicts with methadone is employed with considerable reserve. Nevertheless the Supreme Court of the Federal Republic judged that methadone therapy is not a contravention of the German Narcotics Act provided that prevention of misuse is sufficiently guaranteed. A commentary is cited in which the modalities of a medically justifiable methadone treatment are summarised.