Resources for the prevention and treatment of substance use disorders
The ATLAS on Substance Use provides a structured description
of available prevention and treatment resources for substance use
disorders in WHO regions, different income economies and the world.
Chapter 1 introduces the epidemiological aspects of substance use
disorders and provides information on the level of need for treatment.
Chapter 2 illustrates health service resources. Data on the
implementation of pharmacological treatment for substance use disorders
are presented in chapter 3. Chapter 4 covers human resource aspects.
Policy and legal resources are discussed in chapter 5, before concluding
with resources for the prevention of substance use in chapter 6. The
ATLAS report is based on a survey instrument and has been accomplished
through collaboration with WHO regional and country offices, national
focal points and a number of leading experts in the field of
psychoactive substance use.
Since 1987, staff members at the Rutgers University Center of Alcohol Studies have been collecting citations of documents related to alcohol. Today, they have over 80,000 citations and much of the material is related to research and professional materials that deal with the subject. Additionally, the database contains a small collection of educational and prevention materials designed for use by educators, parents, and public health workers. The site is maintained by the Scholarly Communication Center, the Center of Alcohol Studies, and the Rutgers University Libraries. Visitors to the site can search by subject, or perform a more advanced search as well. The site also includes a "Help" area, which includes information on limiting searches, links to full text, and suggestions on using Boolean techniques. [KMG] From The Scout Report http://www2.scc.rutgers.edu/alcohol_studies/alcohol/
This is a summary of Albert Bandura's book 'Self-efficacy: the exercise of control', which outlines the author's ideas about how self-efficacy affects many aspects of life. The summary is hosted by Emory University in the United States and was produced by Gio Valiante. It should be useful for teachers, students and researchers.
This article, hosted by the US-based website Learnativity.com, provides an overview of educational psychology and the theories that underpin it, including the behaviourist, humanist, cognitive and constructivist viewpoints. The article provides links to further resources. It should be useful for students and teachers.
This is an episode of the BBC Radio Four series 'In Our Time'. In it, the broadcaster Melvyn Bragg discusses our knowledge of the developing infant brain. The psychologists Usha Goswami, Annette Karmiloff-Smith and Denis Mareschal contribute to the discussion, which includes the theories of Sigmund Freud, Jean Piaget and Noam Chomsky. The programme is 45 minutes in length and should be useful for students and teachers.
This is an episode from the BBC Radio Four series 'In Our Time', hosted by Melvyn Bragg, in which the contribution of twentieth century neuroscience to our conceptions of the mind is considered. Joining the discussion are academics Steven Rose and Dan Robinson. The programme is forty five minutes in length and available as a Real Media audio file. It should be useful for students and teachers.
This article is published by the US-based SEED magazine, a science periodical. The article is written by Dave Munger and concerns the difference between actual and perceived risks in the use of alcohol. It contains links to related resources. The article should be useful for students and teachers
An open access, peer reviewed electronic
journal from Libertas Academica, covering all aspects of research and
treatment into substance abuse. Areas covered include medical treatment
and screening, mental health services, research, and evaluation of
substance abuse programmes. Beginning publication in 2008, the contents
are freely available in full online, as PDF documents. http://www.la-press.com/substance-abuse-research-and-treatment-journal-j80
Wine Psychology is a curious new website dedicated to the pleasures, analysis and cognitive science of our favourite grape-based booze.
It's been launched by psychologist Miles Thomas who has written a number of successful articles on the psychology of wine tasting, including one we featured last year.
The website's blog looks the most promising, and the recent post on passive perceptual learning in wine tasting is a good place to start.
There's a small but surprisingly active research community focussed
on wine psychology, largely, I'm guessing, because it is a huge
business with lots of dedicated fans.
Rather unusually, I seem to be uniquely affected by wine. From my
observations it tends to make other people poorly coordinated and
socially unskilled whereas after a few drinks my dancing vastly
improves and I become increasingly witty.
Apparently this anomaly has not yet been reported in the literature, so I look forward to a full scientific investigation.
Full disclosure: Miles Thomas and I are both unpaid members of The
Psychologist editorial board. He has not paid me, twisted my arm or
plied my with booze to write this post.
World bank : alcohol The World Bank is a vital source of financial and technical assistance
to developing countries around the world, and runs a variety of
projects and programs. This page provides details of how the World Bank
is tackling alcoholism is developing countries. The Program aims to
complement bank lending with an effective learning program for client
countries, Bank staff, and staff from other development agencies. The
website links to learning events and programmes, projects and
operations, publications, learning resources (including e-learning)
together with links to other related resources.
From Intute.ac.uk http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTHEALTHNUTRITIONANDPOPULATION/
Intoxication
and Intoxicated Behaviour in Contemporary European Cultures: Myths,
Realities and the Implications for Policy, (Prevention) Practice and
Research
The paper ‘Intoxication and Intoxicated Behaviour in Contemporary
European Cultures: Myths, Realities and the Implications for Policy,
(Prevention) Practice and Research’ by Irmgard Eisenbach-Stangl and
Betsy Thom is the twenty fifth Policy Brief of the European Centre for
Social Welfare Policy and Research and was published in February 2009.
The report highlights how binge drinking has been seen predominantly as
a social problem associated with young people. This emphasis ”has
neglected examination of the wider issue of 'intoxication' and
'intoxicated behaviours'. But to understand youthful binge drinking and
associated behaviours, and to find ways of intervening to prevent or
reduce harm, it is necessary to understand the prevailing concept(s) of
acceptable and unacceptable forms of intoxication and intoxicated
behaviours and its/their wider social and cultural determinants.” The
report is available in PDF format for which users will require Adobe
Acrobat Reader.
From Intute.ac.uk http://www.euro.centre.org/detail.php?xml_id=1425
Alcohol misuse : tackling the UK epidemic This report from the British Medical Association (BMA) Board of Science looks at the extent and implications of alcohol misuse in the UK and the evidence for effective alcohol control policies. It is aimed in particular at policy makers with strategic or operational responsibility for public health and health promotion. The report continues work already done by the BMA through its policy on alcohol and through a range of publications from the Board of Science which are summarised in an appendix. The report presents information on different aspects of alcohol consumption and its impact on society. In a chapter on effective policies to reduce alcohol related harm the report brings together evidence on targeted and population wide alcohol control policies and makes a series of recommendations around these. A section on early intervention and treatment of alcohol misuse is included. The report was published by the BMA in February 2008. Intute.ac.uk http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/tacklingalcoholmisuse
International Society of Addiction Medicine The International Society of Addiction Medicine (ISAM) is an international society of physicians committed to the advancement of addiction medicine. The website provides information on the society, its aims and activities, its history, membership requirements, ISAM annual meetings, related meetings, ISAM Certificate in Addiction Medicine, and links to affiliated societies and organisations. Position papers covering the Basic Addiction Medicine Curriculum, Co-Occurring Psychiatric and Substance Use Disorder Treatment Policy, Definitions in Addiction Medicine, Doctor and Family Health, Pain and Addiction: Assessment Framework and Appropriate Treatment, Youth and Families Substance User Problems, and a White Paper on International Use of Patient Placement Criteria (PPC) are available. Abstracts of past ISAM meetings, past newsletters and past epublications can be accessed online. Intute.ac.uk http://www.isamweb.org/
There has been increasing interest in recent years about the possible
mental health risks for offspring as a result of prenatal alcohol
exposure. In particular, there is considerable controversy about
whether there is a safe threshold for alcohol consumption during
pregnancy and whether international policy recommendations are based on
evidence. This article briefly summarises the existing literature in
relation to mental health outcomes in childhood, adolescence and early
adulthood following prenatal alcohol exposure. It also highlights some
of the possible pitfalls in the interpretation of observational
epidemiological data.
