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Improvement in Access to Treatment for People with Alcohol and Drug Related Problems (IATPAD) was a European study that detected barriers and facilitators to accessing treatment for patients with alcohol and drug‐related problems. This article seeks to compare the findings from a qualitative study with patients and staff in Catalunya (Spain).

The paper describes a multi‐centre, qualitative study. A purposive sample of 47 staff, from a randomly selected sample of the three main entrance points to treatment for patients with alcohol and drug problems in Catalunya, were recruited from: Out‐patient General Psychiatry Centres (CSMA); Out‐patient Addiction Centres (CAS); and Primary Care Centres (CAP). In addition, open‐ended responses were collated from 142 additional staff on barriers and facilitators to accessing treatment for patients with alcohol and drug problems and how these barriers could be improved. A total of 25 patients from two CAS were interviewed in‐depth. The framework approach was used to interpret qualitative interviews.

The main barriers and facilitators to accessing treatment identified by staff and patients were patients' motivation, centres' opening hours, staff attitudes, the provision of information about services, and the co‐ordination and integration of different services – mainly the mental health and addiction sectors.

This paper describes and compares the main barriers and facilitators to accessing treatment from both staff and patients' point of view. Recommendations are made in order to improve service accessibility for patients with addiction problems and those with a dual diagnosis.

This qualitative research explores the relationship between religiosity, suicide thoughts and drug abuse among 55 homeless people, interviewed with interpretative phenomenological analysis. Analyzing the thematic structure of the participants' narrations, important main themes appeared in order to avoid suicide, among which family, the certainty of finding a solution and the will to live. However, the suicide ideation inheres in about 30% of participants, almost all believers, addicted and/or alcoholics. Results suggest that religiosity and meaning of death neither prevent from substances abuse and alcoholism, nor is a protective factor against suicide ideation. Meanings of life are the most important reasons for living, and when they are definitively considered unworkable, alcohol and drug help to endure life in the street. A specific model is discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the prevalence of potential problem gambling among Finnish prisoners; the associations between problem gambling and demographics, substance use and crime-related factors; and problem gamblers’ support preferences.

Prisoners (n=96) from two Finnish prisons were recruited between December 2017 and January 2018. The estimated response rate was 31 percent. Gambling problems were measured using the Brief Biosocial Gambling Screen. The participants were asked to report their gambling both for one year prior to their incarceration and for the past year. The independent variables were demographics (age, gender and marital status), substance use (alcohol, smoking and narcotics) and crime-related factors (crime type, prison type and previous sentence). Statistical significance (p) was determined using Fischer’s exact test.

Past-year pre-conviction problem gambling prevalence was 16.3 percent and past-year prevalence 15 percent. Age, gender, smoking, alcohol or illicit drug use were not associated with past-year problem gambling before sentencing. One-third of the prisoners (33.3 percent) who were sentenced for a property crime, financial crime or robbery were problem gamblers. One-quarter (24 percent) of all participants showed an interest in receiving support by identifying one or more support preferences. The most preferred type of support was group support in its all forms.

It is recommended that correctional institutions undertake systematic screening for potential problem gambling, and implement tailored intervention programs for inmates with gambling problems.

This study provides a deeper understanding of problem gambling in prisons. Problem gambling is associated with crime and also seems to be linked with serving a previous sentence. Early detection and tailored interventions for problem gambling may help to reduce reoffending rates.

This paper introduces narrative theory and therapy, showing its relevance to addiction and recovery. A variety of techniques and clinical sensitivities are illustrated, the purpose of which is to enable clients to change.

While many of the most widely used treatment interventions engage with the psychological, social and spiritual dimensions of addiction, some of the biological aspects can at times be neglected. It is increasingly being recognised that there is a close, exacerbating relationship between problematic substance use and poor nutrition.

Drug and alcohol abuse are estimated to cost British industry close to £1,500 million in lost productivity annually. But despite the enormous costs in both human and material terms, alcoholism and addiction are subjects which are little understood and reluctantly discussed. In the UK, however, this is slowly changing and there is a growing awareness of the problems of addiction, and an increasing number of educational and training materials available. This issue briefly reviews five videos that tackle the issues of substance abuse:

The purpose of this paper is to map research communities related to heroin-assisted treatment (HAT) and the scientific network they are part of to determine their structure and content.

Co-authorship as the basis for conducting social network analysis with regard to degree, weighted degree, betweenness centrality, and edge betweenness centrality.

A number of central researchers were identified on the basis of the number of their collaborative relations. Central actors were also identified on the basis of their position in the research network. In total, 11 research communities were constructed with different scientific content. HAT research communities are closely connected to medical, psychiatric, and epidemiological research and very loosely connected to social research.

The first mapping of the collaborative network HAT researchers using social network methodology.

The purpose of this study is to examine the underresearched transformative service research (TSR) and social marketing segment of young adults who use drugs and identify motivators that have been studied in previous literature, using a service ecosystem lens and provide direction for future research into this area. This research provides the evidence-based knowledge for transformative service and social marketing practitioners to design transformative services that target these motivators.

This systematic review, guided by the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis framework, examines and analyses 207 articles published between 2015 and 2020.

This study identified that young adults are motivated to take drugs to enhance one’s experience, to cope, for social reasons, because of individual characteristics and for other reasons. Research has largely focused on microsystem and mesosystem motivators with data collected mainly using a microsystem approach.

This paper contributes to the TSR and social marketing literature by providing a holistic investigation into all motivators relevant to young adult drug use. An ecosystem classification and theoretical framework of the motivators is curated to help guide future TSR and social marketing research and interventions.

There have been few studies about the prevalence of substance abuse and links to offending behaviour among those with intellectual disabilities. This paper aims to address this issue.

This baseline audit describes: the prevalence of alcohol and substance misuse in patients within a forensic intellectual disability service; and the introduction of a Drug and Alcohol Awareness Course. In total, 74 patients were included in the audit.

Roughly half of the patients audited had co‐morbid harmful use or dependence with the problem being equally prevalent in men and women. Whilst alcohol and cannabis were the commonest drugs of abuse, cocaine, stimulants and opiates were abused by a small but significant number. Of those with harmful use or dependence, 35 per cent had used the drug in the immediate lead up to their index offence. A diagnosis of personality disorder and past history of convictions for violent offences was significantly more likely to be present in the group with harmful use or dependence. There were no differences on major mental illnesses or pervasive developmental disorders.

The high prevalence of substance abuse makes it an important risk factor that could determine treatment outcomes. Forensic intellectual disability units need replicable substance abuse targeted treatment programmes that can be formally audited and evaluated.

Findings are discussed in relation to service planning and treatment outcomes from forensic intellectual disability services.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss what kinds of messages about the risks of polydrug use are mediated in YouTube video blogs and on what kinds of norms and values do the vloggers base these messages.

The data consist of 12 YouTube videos where vloggers share their own experiences of the risks and harms of polydrug use. In the analysis, the actantial model of Greimas’ theory of structural semiotics was applied.

Two main types of videos were identified – sobriety and controlled use – where polydrug use has different meanings. In sobriety videos, polydrug use is presented as the heavy use of multiple substances. In the videos dealing with controlled use, polydrug use is taken as the combining of certain substances. Whereas the sobriety videos emphasized total abstinence from all substances due to their destructiveness, the videos about controlled use emphasized risk awareness when combining substances. Despite modern digital media and a new generation operating in this space, the messages of the risks of polydrug use mainly repeat those of familiar discourses.

This paper offers an analytical insight into the ways in which the risks of polydrug use are conceptualized in a YouTube context that is increasingly gaining a foothold among the youth. Greimas’ actantial model offers a fruitful tool to find semiotic meanings that hide under the surface. The model has not been applied in previous drug research.