For more than a century, the US nursing profession has been aware of substance abuse problems among its practitioners and student nurses but has generally dealt with the issue by taking disciplinary action rather than pursuing nonpunitive options. The latter course would allow more healthcare providers, following successful rehabilitation, to…

Evidence is accumulating that drug court programs appear effective in reducing the substance use and recidivism of drug-involved offenders. As there is no single drug court model, programs vary from site to site and the extent to which individual programs are fully implemented is not well documented. The extent to which drug court programs deliver…

We reviewed 39 national government- and nongovernment-sponsored data sets related to substance addiction policy. These data sets describe patients with substance use disorders (SUDs), treatment providers and the services they offer, and/or expenditures on treatment. Findings indicate the availability of reliable data on the prevalence of SUD and…

Substance abuse in the United States has reached catastrophic proportions. 23.6 million people needed treatment for an illicit drug or alcohol use problem (1). According to the National Association of Social Workers, 60% of all mental health services are carried out by social workers (3). Therefore, social workers are in a critical and unique…

This study examined whether Motivational Interviewing (MI), found effective with voluntary entrants to drug treatment, would improve intrinsic motivation and treatment retention among drug court probationers. Probationers were randomly assigned to receive either a two-session MI intervention or a two-session Drug Education (DE) intervention…

In a randomized test of mixed-mode data collection strategies, 386 participants in the Raising Healthy Children (RHC) Project were either (a) asked to complete a survey via the Internet and later offered the opportunity to complete the survey in person or (b) first offered an in-person survey, with the Web follow-up. The Web-first condition…

The incarceration binge between 1980 and 2000 resulted in a rate of incarceration of 100 to over 500 people per 100,000 (Irwin, 2005). Specifically, from 1980 to 1997, the number of drug offenders increased 1,040% (Petersilia, 2003). Not only is the number of drug offending inmates an issue, so is the cost of drug addiction, prompting a need for…

Aims: To examine the quality of screening and assessment practices at some of the most highly regarded adolescent substance use treatment programs in the United States. Methods: Between March and September 2005, telephone surveys were administered to directors of highly regarded programs. Several different publications and databases were then used…

Hispanic individuals are underrepresented in clinical and research populations and are often excluded from clinical trials in the United States. Hence, there are few data on the effectiveness of most empirically validated therapies for Hispanic substance users. The authors conducted a multisite randomized trial comparing the effectiveness of 3…

Because of ongoing neuromaturation, youth with chronic alcohol/substance use disorders (AUD/SUD) are at risk for cognitive decrements during young adulthood. We prospectively examined cognition over 10 years based on AUD/SUD history. Youth (N = 51) with no AUD/SUD history (n = 14), persisting AUD/SUD (n = 18), or remitted AUD/SUD (n = 19) were…

In many cultures, approximately one third of people with drug dependence are women of child-bearing age. Substance use among pregnant and parenting women is a major public health concern. Aboriginal people have some of the highest rates of substance abuse in Canada, increasing concern for detrimental health impacts, including those for women and…

Spirituality and religiousness have long been associated with physical and mental health. The scientific treatment of religiosity as a multi-dimensional phenomenon is well established, especially in relation to chemical dependence treatment. Indeed, over 100 instruments are available for measuring various dimensions of religiosity. The more recent…

The purpose of this study was to assess staff and client perspectives on the Internet-based Journey Mapping program evaluation tool. A drug court program was chosen for a case study research design. Six staff and 10 clients participated in interviews and observations, and also responded to a questionnaire. A staff survey provided additional data.…

Objective: The purpose of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of a comprehensive, strengths-based model of case management for clients in drug abuse treatment. Method: 503 volunteers from residential or intensive outpatient treatment were randomly assigned to one of three conditions of Iowa Case Management (ICM) plus treatment as usual…

The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to examine the subjective experiences of six recovering addicts as they reflected on how their interactions with others facilitated or impeded their healing from addiction. The study involved in-depth interviews with six participants who had recovered from their extensive substance…