OBJECTIVETo investigate an effective method to facilitate the physical and mental recovery of drug abusers in detoxification restoration period.

METHODSIntegrated interventions were adopted to observe the changes in the physical and mental conditions of female drug abusers who had withdrawn drugs.

RESULTSComparing behavioral changes between the two groups before and after intervention, we found that changes of score in the intervention group were all higher than those in the control group in terms of their physical symptoms or state of anxiety.

CONCLUSIONIt is necessary to help drug abusers understand the harm of drug-abuse, build up self-confidence and improve EQ through interventions. It will be beneficial for the drug addicts to refrain from drug-taking and regain a normal life. Our study has proved that positive results can only be obtained from integrated intervention projects.

Adult ; Anxiety ; Counseling ; Female ; Humans ; Self Concept ; Substance Abuse Treatment Centers ; Substance-Related Disorders ; psychology ; therapy

Background and Objectives: The Philippine Department of Health (DOH) is mandated by law to, among others, develop capacities and accredit physicians and rehabilitation practitioners across the country on the assessment and management of drug dependence. This paper describes the design and presents the outputs of an advanced course on screening and assessment of drug dependence developed by DOH in partnership with the College of Public Health of the University of the Philippines Manila, Philippine College of Addiction Medicine, and the Group for Addiction Psychiatry of the Philippines.

Methodology: Review, abstraction and synthesis of data from training-related documents and records for the training activities implemented in 2014.

Results: The Level 2a course is a five-day program that focuses on enhancing the skills of physicians and rehabilitation practitioners on the screening and assessment of drug dependence using team-based and practical learning approaches, and builds on learnings from the basic accreditation course. A total of 36 participants from ten Drug Abuse Treatment and Rehabilitation Centers (DATRCs) in nine regions completed the pilot implementation of the course in 2014. In general, the overall participant feedback on the training was mainly favorable based on data from 47% of participants who agreed or strongly agreed to statements on the relevance and attainment of the course aims (mean rating of 1.10±0.31, 1 = Strongly agree, 5 = Strongly disagree), and the appropriateness of its content (1.24±0.43) and design (1.18±0.39). A paired-samples t-test comparing scores for 44% of participants showed that there was a highly statistically significant difference in the pre-test (54%±13%) and post-test scores (69%±10%); t(16)=6.4240, p <0.0001.

Conclusion: Development and design of capability-building initiatives in the field of drug rehabilitation will necessitate alignment with practice standards, grounding in the real-world setting in which professionals work, and orientation towards practical learning.

Education ; Interprofessional Relations ; Substance-Related Disorders ; Substance Abuse Treatment Centers ; Physicians ; Nurses ; Psychology ; Social Workers

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the age of the first exposure to substances influences the characteristics of substance abuse. METHOD: Ninety seven adolescent boys in a substance abuse treatment facility were evaluated by using questionnaires, individual diagnostic interviews, and psychology tests. They were classified into 3 groups, preadolescence group(PA), early adolescence group(EA), and middle adolescence group (MA) according to the age of the first exposure to substances, and the data were statistically analyzed by SPSS 9.0. RESULTS: The average age was 16.4+/-1.2 years. There were 39 in PA, 29 in EA, and 29 in MA. In comparison to EA, PA showed higher frequency in substance use, substance dependence, and positive family history of alcohol abuse. In comparison to MA, PA had higher frequency in troubles in interpersonal relationship, functional impairment, dependence on substances, withdrawal symptoms, amount of alcohol and gas consumed, positive family history of alcohol abuse. presence of comorbid psychiatric disorders, and higher score in K-subscale of MMPI. PA also used more variety of substances more frequently, and had shorter duration before starting the second substance. In comparison to MA, EA showed higher frequency of substance use, functional impairment, trouble in interpersonal relationship, diagnoses of substance dependence, and shorter duration before starting the second substance. However, less EA were from disorganized families. Among the 3 groups, there were no statistically meaningful differences in combined use of alcohol, trial of abstinence, duration of abstinence, child abuse history, family support, intelligence, and frequency and duration of running away from home. CONCLUSION: Earlier exposure to substances may lead to more serious problems of drug abuse. Earlier drug prevention education for adolescents should be provided.
Adolescent* ; Alcoholism ; Child ; Child Abuse ; Diagnosis ; Education ; Humans ; Intelligence ; MMPI ; Psychology ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Running ; Substance Withdrawal Syndrome ; Substance-Related Disorders*

OBJECTIVETo understand where and how drug-using and sexual behaviors occurred among drug users.

METHODSTwenty-five drug users were recruited from detoxification centers and communities. In-depth interview was used to collect information about drug-using and sexual behaviors. Each subject was interviewed separately and privately for about 2 - 3 hours.

RESULTSMost drug users shifted from oral taking drugs to injecting drugs in order to reduce economic burden and look for "high feeling". Reasons for not injecting among few drug users included 'perceiving information on harm of injection', 'over-dose death' or 'infection with HIV'. Most drug users knew that HIV transmit through sharing needles or having sexual intercourse without using a condom. However, needles were shared at night when drug or needles were scarce. Promiscuous sexual relationship was common among drug users. Most female drug users had engaged in prostitution but few used condoms.

CONCLUSIONHigh-risk drug injecting behaviors and high-risk sexual behaviors were prevalent among drug users despite knowledge on HIV transmission and prevention. Thus, education alone would not work unless specific intervention programs are taken.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Risk-Taking ; Sexual Behavior ; Substance-Related Disorders ; psychology

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to analyze addiction prevention related content shown in middle school text books. METHODS: Using a combination of the terms “addiction”, “drug”, “medicine”, “personal preference”, “smoking”, “drinking”, “sex”, “misuse” or “abuse” as key words, the researchers screened the table of contents of 23 randomly selected middle school textbooks from the 2009 curriculum. Finally 13 textbooks (physical education=10, health=3) were selected for this study, and analyzed using Krippendorff's contents analysis. RESULTS: Through indepth discussion and investigation of the relevant textbooks, content related to addiction prevention included material addiction (77.8%) and behavioral addiction (22.2%). The construction of addiction prevention in middle school textbooks included understanding addiction, rejection of peer temptation, and empowerment of self-control. CONCLUSION: When developing an intervention for addiction prevention that targets middle school students, education with accurate addiction information must be considered so that the students have the correct knowledge about addiction and addiction prevention. Additionally, the ability to reject peer temptation when invited to act upon related addiction behaviors should be treated seriously. The empowerment of self-control is also important, and can be promoted through strengthening self-regulation competence.
Adolescent ; Alcoholism ; Curriculum ; Education ; Humans ; Mental Competency ; Power (Psychology) ; Self-Control ; Substance-Related Disorders

Objective: To investigate the associations between adverse childhood experiences (ACE) and substance use behaviors among lesbians to provide a scientific basis for high-risk population identification and formulation of targeted intervention measures. Methods: Lesbians who participated in routine AIDS voluntary counseling, testing services, activities, and peer recommendations were recruited from July to December 2018, with the help of LesPark in Beijing. Convenient sampling method was used. Demographic characteristics, ACE, and substance use behaviors of subjects were investigated using an online platform powered by www.wjx.cn. Subsequently, the associations between ACE and adulthood substance use behaviors were evaluated using the logistic regression model. The SPSS 22.0 was used for statistical analysis. Results: A total of 294 lesbians were recruited in the study, 81.3% (239/294) of them were lesbians, and 18.7% (55/294) were bisexuals. Besides, 55.8% (164/294) of subjects reported they had had ACE, with proportions of lesbians experiencing abuse, neglect, and family dysfunction as 33.3% (98/294), 24.5% (72/294), and 32.7% (96/294), respectively. 55.1% (162/294) of the lesbians reported they had smoked in the past 30 days, 11.2% (33/294) reported having drug-use behavior in the past three months, and 22.8% (67/294) claimed drinking alcohol weekly. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that lesbians with ACE were at high risks to smoke (OR=1.87, 95%CI: 1.13-3.08), drink (OR=2.13, 95%CI: 1.18-3.84), and use drugs (OR=3.33, 95%CI: 1.29-8.61) in adulthood. Moreover, lesbians with childhood family dysfunction were at higher risk of smoking cigarettes (OR=2.60, 95%CI: 1.46-4.62) and drinking alcohol (OR=2.65, 95%CI: 1.44-4.87). At the same time, those with abuse experience were at higher risk of drug use (OR=3.17, 95%CI: 1.26-7.96). Conclusions: Substance use behaviors, including cigarette smoking, drinking alcohol, and drugs use, were common among lesbians. Positive associations were found between ACE and adulthood substance use behaviors.
Adult ; Adverse Childhood Experiences ; Child ; Child Abuse/psychology* ; Female ; Humans ; Risk Factors ; Sexual and Gender Minorities ; Substance-Related Disorders/psychology*

OBJECTIVETo explore the situation of smoking behavior among the students of middle school in Beijing, Hangzhou, Wuhan and Urumchi and to analyze the relationship between smoking behavior and several unhealthy behaviors together with psychological troubles to provide evidence in developing an early intervention plan.

METHODSThe National Health Education Institute (NHEI) of Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provided relevant data on all middle schools in the 4 cities and then U.S. CDC randomly sampled 100 common middle schools from them with a special sampling process. The core questionnaire developed by the experts from WHO and other countries was used in the survey among 9015 sampled students.

RESULTSAmong all the sampled students, 29.4% of them had ever attempted cigarettes smoking while 6.6% of them tried tobacco in the 30 days before survey, 27.0% of the students with smoking behavior began smoking at the age of 9 or younger, 31.8% had learned how to refuse smoking from school education. The students with smoking behavior were more likely to drink alcohol, use drugs, bully others, be injured, miss classes, and have some psychological troubles than those without smoking behavior.

CONCLUSIONThere were increasing trends noticed on the incidence of attempt and smoking cigarettes. Smoking was closely related to other unhealthy behaviors and psychological troubles. Comprehensive education activities on "no-smoking" should be implemented as early as possible among adolescents, as well as to promote training on life skills.

Adolescent ; Adolescent Behavior ; Child ; China ; epidemiology ; Health Behavior ; Humans ; Incidence ; Mental Disorders ; Smoking ; epidemiology ; Students ; psychology ; Substance-Related Disorders

OBJECTIVETo investigate the social mental state of drug addicts in a compulsive drug abuse treatment center; evaluate the effectiveness of integrated program for the prevention of abuse relapse and improvement of drug addicts' psychological health.

METHODSThe study subjects were addicts from the Wuhan Compulsive Drug Abuse Treatment Center between October 2003 and June 2004, who satisfied the inclusion criteria. A non-randomized control-intervention study design was adopted. Volunteers willing to take part in intervention were put into the intervention group with their full awareness and willingness to prevent drug abuse relapse. The control group was composed of the addicts who were willing to prevent relapse and to be followed up after their discharge.

RESULTSThe effectiveness of the integrated intervention program in promoting addicts' psychological health: before the intervention, the scores of Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), the positive and negative dimensionalities of Simple Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ) and Chinese Perceived Stress Scales (CPSS) had no significant differences between the intervention group and the control group. After the intervention, except that the SCSQ's positive dimensionality in the intervention group was significantly higher than that in the control group, other indices in the intervention group were lower. Before and after the intervention, the psychological health level in both the groups was lower than that in the normal population; there were significant differences between addicts and normal subjects in regards with all of the indices above.

CONCLUSIONDrug abuse was associated closely with addicts' social mental factors. The integrated intervention program can alleviate anxiety and stress, reduce co-morbid mental disorders and effectively improve their coping style. In conclusion, the program can promote addicts' psychological health significantly.

Adaptation, Psychological ; Adult ; Case-Control Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Mental Health ; Program Evaluation ; Stress, Psychological ; Substance-Related Disorders ; psychology ; therapy

The number of healthcare professionals (HCPs) abusing propofol has been steadily growing, while recreational use of propofol among the general public has become a social concern. Propofol was once believed to be unsuited for the purpose of abuse because it wears off too quickly and induces unconsciousness more frequently than euphoria. However, studies have demonstrated the abuse potential of propofol. Animal studies have shown that propofol increases dopamine levels in the mesolimbic dopamine system, which is a putative mechanism of addiction for most addictive drugs. Behavior studies, not only with animals but also with human beings, have demonstrated that administration of propofol induces conditioned rewards and reinforcement. Although the incidence of propofol abuse among HCPs seems to be lower than that of abuse of common addictive substances, multiple articles and case reports have documented cases. Easy access to the drug is closely associated with its abuse among HCPs. In addition, the pharmacologic properties of propofol, specifically its short onset and offset, is one of reasons HCPs start to abuse this drug without any serious consideration and makes propofol abuse difficult to detect. To reduce propofol abuse among HCPs, we should develop a strict pharmacy control system for limiting access to propofol. Adopting radio-frequency identification system for controlled drugs could be an effective option. However, substance dependent HCPs are quite resourceful even in obtaining controlled drugs. Therefore, a multilateral approach to stem the rising tide of propofol abuse among HCPs is needed: a combination of preventative education, early identification and intervention, aggressive treatment, and consistent rehabilitation.
Animals ; Delivery of Health Care ; Dopamine ; Euphoria ; Humans ; Incidence ; Pharmacy ; Propofol ; Reinforcement (Psychology) ; Reward ; Substance-Related Disorders ; Unconsciousness

High relapse rate of drug-dependent patients is a serious problem in the current situation. The present article describes how to design and implement virtual reality technology for drug-dependent patients with psychological treatment, with the aim at the addiction withdrawal. The software was developed based on open-source game engine for 2D models. The form of a game simulates the actual style in the day-to-day living environment of drug-dependent patients and the temptation of using drugs. The software helps the patients deal with different scenarios and different event handling, cause their own thinking, and response to the temptation from high-risk environment and from other drug-dependent patients. The function of the software is close to the real life of drug-dependent patients, and has a prospect to become a new treatment to reduce the relapse rate of drug-dependence.
Computer Simulation ; Humans ; Psychotherapy ; methods ; Software ; Substance-Related Disorders ; psychology ; therapy ; User-Computer Interface ; Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy ; methods