Substance Abuse and Possible Prevention and Treatment Measures - Essay Example

? Substance Abuse Prevention and Addiction Program: A Proposal Number) Substance Abuse Prevention and Addiction Program: A Proposal Introduction Changes in the world’s modern societies have brought about variations in the society’s needs and demands. Indeed, the world has come a long way from its earlier history of agricultural existence to a more modern, industrial and technological nature. These changes in the world’s focus also brought with it different demands and needs that are normally viewed by the world as indulgence. Some of these new forms of “demands” include drugs as well as liquor and similar other substances. Indeed, as much as development has taken a different form in today’s modern society, problems and social issues have also taken new forms. These problems include addictive substances such as drugs and alcohol, and it is a sad observation within the medical and scientific community that these substances have become the new form of “demands” within the society. In fact, liquor has become almost a staple thing in social gatherings, and almost the majority of the United State’s population smoke cigarettes (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2010). Moreover, drug problems have also emerged as a common social problem in almost all US states. Through the addictive properties of these substances, they have become the new “demands” of the modern society. It is then of little wonder that addictions and dependence have risen over the years, and government programs are largely unable to contain them. Because of this situation, communities have required more interventions from the government and healthcare professionals, especially those dealing with psychiatric health. This involvement of psychiatric health workers is for the reason that substance abuse is something that is largely psychological and can be addressed with psychiatric and psycho-pharmaceutical approaches. Still, in order for care to be holistic, interventions should involve not only the individual experiencing the addiction, but also the person’s family, and even the community he/she lives in. A holistic approach is indeed needed in terms of combating addictive substances because it takes more than one man to create a social problem, a great example of which is substance addiction and dependence in a great majority of the members of the community. In relation to the above, this paper will then look into substance abuse, and the possible interventions for preventing and treating it. More specifically, this paper involves a proposal for a program to deal with the issues of substance abuse and addiction. This proposal will involve primary, secondary, and tertiary interventions to address the issue of substance abuse, more specifically drug abuse and addiction. The proposed program will cater mainly to adolescents (10 to 18 years) and young adults (18 to 25 years), the age groups most prone to substance abuse. This proposal will first present a discussion on the goals of the proposed program, moving on to the more specific objectives of the different aspects of the program. A discussion of the actual program will then follow. Afterwards, this paper will present a discussion on the different and more specific interventions that would be provided during the implementation of the program. Then the different forecasted resources and constraints will be discussed, and finally, this paper will present a simple budget for the proposed program. Goals The proposed program aims to address the problem on the high cases of drug addiction and abuse within the community. Drug addiction has increased over the recent years and interventions are needed to decrease the number of drug usage, as well as drug addiction. Thus, the ultimate goal of the proposed program is to guarantee that the percentage of the adolescent and young adult population groups of the community who are using drugs will be decreased by at least 30% at the end of the twelve months of implementation. Therefore, an initial assessment of the community’s adolescents and young adults’ illicit drug usage should be conducted, which is another goal of the proposed program. This second goal will help establish the severity of the drug problem within the adolescents and young adults of the community. In addition, another goal of the program is to create an agenda that can especially address the prevention of drug abuse, as well as address and treat the problem of drug addiction. This goal then involves the creation of a set of interventions and complementary actions that address the prevention of addiction, the treatment of withdrawal symptoms and addiction, and the rehabilitation of those who have passed the dangers of withdrawal. These outlined goals will then be addressed in the different objectives of the proposed program, which all be discussed in the succeeding portion of this paper. Objectives In the most general sense, the proposed program aims to decrease the percentage of adolescent and young adult individuals who abuse drugs, and who are addicted to drugs. More specifically, the program aims to achieve the following objectives: a) To decrease the percentage of individuals who are addicted and abusers of drugs by 30%, after twelve months of intervention. b) To establish a survey of the current percentage of adolescent and young adult individuals using drugs, to serve as the basis of outcomes assessment. c) To build up, revive, or rehabilitate five drug abuse rehabilitation and prevention centers. d) To generate a generalized data gathering center where information on drug abuse and addiction can be centralized for further analysis, to serve both as a form of evaluation and as basis for future interventions, programs, amendments, or improvements in the current proposed program. Program The proposed program aims, after twelve months of interventions, to decrease the percentage of adolescent and young adult individuals who are addicted and abusers of drugs by 30%. The program will cater to both male and female patients, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation, and will address the abuse and addiction of any illicit and regulated drug in the United States. The main model that will be utilized for the different aspects of the program is the Health Promotion Model, whose main proponent is Nola Pender, although the model has now undergone numerous revisions and improvements (Pender, Murdaugh, & Parsons, 2011). The said model will be discussed in greater detail in the next section of this paper. Moreover, the program will be handled greatly by the local government, in partnership with different sponsors and other organizations. The program will involve two main parts, with both parts addressing the three levels of prevention: primary, secondary, and tertiary. The first part of the program will address Drug Abuse Prevention, an aspect of healthcare that greatly involves primary prevention, as well as some aspects of secondary prevention. The second part of the program will address the problem of Drug Addiction, and greatly involves the more major percentage of secondary prevention, as well as the tertiary level of prevention. For the first part of the program, Drug Abuse Prevention would largely involve information dissemination and similar drives to provide people with the negative effects of drug addiction. This intervention banks on the old adage that “knowledge is power”, and provides some participatory power for the members of the community. This participatory power comes in the form of the people’s ability to decide their own courses of action based on the knowledge they will be able to gain from the different information campaigns. Also, by giving information to the people, the program implementers can work on the principles of the Health Promotion Model. Still, in this first part of the program, the challenge would be to get people to notice that there is information available for them, and to get them to actually listen or internalize the information being delivered. Therefore, the delivery of the information on the ill effects of drug abuse should be done through different forms of media. For the visual medium the first part of the program will involve the posting of different information posters, as well as the provision of pamphlets and flyers detailing the adverse effects of drug addiction and abuse. Also, broadcast and journalism media will be sourced out, wherein television and radio commercials will be aired to provide a review for people on the harms of drug abuse. Moreover, articles on drug prevention will also be submitted for publication in the local papers. Another mode of information delivery would involve a series of four seminars and lectures that will occur every three months. These seminars will draw in the targeted population for talks, lectures, forums, sharing, and even brief therapy sessions that follow the format of group therapy. All of these sections of the program involve the primary level of prevention. The secondary level of prevention comes in the form of free screenings and drug tests to help detect those in need of help. On the other hand, the second part of the program, which deals with Drug Addiction, will involve three main interventions: treatment evaluation, provision of actual treatment, and aftercare placement. Treatment evaluation and the provision of the actual treatment touch on the secondary level of prevention, while treatment and aftercare placement provides the tertiary level of prevention (Sarason & Sarason, 2002). Treatment evaluation involves the assessment of the treatment needed by the patient who is addicted to drugs, while provision of the treatment involves the actual delivery of the same the healthcare provider has assessed the patient to need. The latter also involves detoxification procedures, and any other assistance that can be provided during the withdrawal period. Finally, aftercare placement involves the transfer of the patient to another facility or discharge to another setting where the continuity of care and the relapse of addiction is prevented (Wilson & Kolander, 2011). It should also be noted that this second part of the program would be aided by the establishment of five more rehabilitation and drug abuse centers. The said centers need not be exclusively new, and they can even only include the rehabilitation or revival of previously existing centers which were not active in their intended goals. References Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2010). Adult cigarette smoking in the United States: current estimate. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/adult_data/cig_smoking/index.htm Pender, N. J., Murdaugh, C. L., & Parsons, M. A. (2011). Health promotion in nursing practice. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson. Sarason, I. G., & Sarason, B. R. (2002). Abnormal psychology: The problem of maladaptive behavior. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall. Wilson, R., & Kolander, C. (2011). Drug abuse prevention. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Read More