Drug Abuse and Addiction in Medical Illness: Causes, Consequences, and Treatment.

Drug Abuse and Addiction in Medical Illness: Causes, Consequences, and Treatment.

Filed under: Addiction Rehab

Ann Pharmacother. 2013 Jan 16;
Hughes PJ

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Effectiveness of self-help groups and psychotherapy: self-assessment of patients with substance use disorders.

Filed under: Addiction Rehab

Medicina (Kaunas). 2012; 48(10): 544-51
Sudraba V, Millere I, Rancans E

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE. The basis of substance use disorders (SUD) is formed with regard to biopsychosocial aspects. By following the SUD biological model exclusively, the effectiveness of treatment is limited since all the formation aspects of SUD are not taken into account. By using the psychosocial model, however, the understanding and treatment of a substance use illness becomes enhanced and is more effective. A key role in this model is played by self-help groups and psychotherapy. The aim of this study was to determine the viewpoint of patients with substance use disorders in terms of the number of visits, duration of treatment, efficacy of self-help groups, and individual and group psychotherapy in different treatment methods. MATERIAL AND METHODS. The participants were approached by researchers at two drug and alcohol services in Latvia. In total, 587 patients received questionnaires developed by the authors of the study. RESULTS. All the 587 questionnaires of both outpatient respondents (n=200, 34.1%) and inpatient respondents (n=387, 65.9%) were analyzed. Of all the outpatient department respondents, 41.5% (n=83) attended self-help groups, 28.5% (n=57) individual psychotherapy, and 14.5% (n=29) group psychotherapy; the inpatient department respondents were 2 to 4 times less often involved in the measures. CONCLUSIONS. The outpatient respondents were more frequently employed. They attended self-help groups and psychotherapy and obtained longer remission comparing with inpatient respondents. This study has shown that patients had a greater success rate in staying in remission, maintaining outpatient care and shedding the need of inpatient care.
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Understanding Men’s Aggression in Bars: Development of the Beliefs and Attitudes toward Male Alcohol-Related Aggression (BAMARA) Inventory.

Filed under: Addiction Rehab

Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2013 Jan; 37 Suppl 1: E260-70
Wells S, Tremblay PF, Graham K

While several qualitative studies suggest that beliefs and attitudes are important in explaining men’s alcohol-related aggression, no quantitative instrument measuring men’s beliefs and attitudes about male alcohol-related aggression has been developed. The purpose of this study was to develop and test a theoretically based multidimensional inventory measuring Beliefs and Attitudes toward Male Alcohol-Related Aggression (BAMARA) consisting of 9 dimensions: (i) expected negative consequences; (ii) expected positive consequences; (iii) personal approval; (iv) perceived male peer approval; (v) perceived female peer approval; (vi) perceived normality; (vii) relaxed norms when drinking; (viii) alcohol as an excuse; and (ix) male honor/protection of masculinity.A random sample of 1,343 young adult male college and university students participated in an online survey. Item analyses using confirmatory factor analytic (CFA) and item-response theory (IRT) procedures were conducted to select a refined pool of items promoting high internal consistency and discriminant validity of the 9 scales. We evaluated the criterion validity of the 9 scales, the BAMARA total score (BAMARA-Total), and a short form of the inventory (BAMARA-SF) in terms of their association with experiences of barroom aggression and other theoretically linked constructs.CFA and IRT analyses resulted in a 53-item inventory consisting of the 9 scales with adequate model fit and good internal consistency indices. Criterion validity was demonstrated, with the BAMARA scales correlating well with reports of actual experiences of aggression in bars. BAMARA-Total and BAMARA-SF were found to be significantly associated with barroom aggression controlling for a number of important control variables.This new instrument is expected to have many important applications in the male aggression literature, with the full BAMARA being employed for the assessment of specific beliefs and attitudes and the BAMARA-SF used as a general attitudinal measure.
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