The current study examined the relative effectiveness of motivational feedback compared to cognitive-behavioral skills training delivered in bibliotherapy format to college students. The effectiveness of matching alcohol abuse interventions with participant's stage of change was also explored. The study's design utilized an assessment only control group and collateral informants to strengthen the validity of the conclusions. Participation in the cognitive-behavioral skills training and motivational feedback interventions did not lead to greater reductions in participants' alcohol use and alcohol related problems than assignment to an assessment only control group. No significant differences were found between these three groups on any of the drinking measures from pre-test to l-month and from pre-test to the 2- month follow-up. Only time effects were observed on alcohol related problems and frequency of heavy alcohol use across the 3 experimental conditions. Tentative explanations for the lack of support for the effectiveness of these interventions are discussed in the paper including sample size and statistical power, intervention compliance, and intervention fidelity. A number of changes which might enhance the effectiveness of these interventions are also discussed in the paper. The study also found no significant Intervention X stage of Change X Time interactions to support the effectiveness of matching intervention to participants' stage of change. Tentative hypotheses for this finding are discussed in the paper including issues related to the measurement of stages of change. Competing hypothesis regarding the relative and incremental utility of outcome and self-efficacy expectancies were also examined in the study. Pre-test efficacy expectancies consistently predicted a significant proportion in participants' frequency of alcohol use and moderate use at 1 and 2-month follow-ups beyond concurrent use outcome expectancies were unable to add to the prediction of drinking behavior beyond self-efficacy and concurrent drinking behavior. This pattern of results support Bandura's (1986) view that efficacy expectancies subsume most of the predictive power of outcome expectancies. Further, as predicted by Bandura, prior drinking behavior alone did not fully explain future use, rather students perceptions of efficacy also guided future use. / Ph. D.

The diploma thesis deals with the conflict that appeared after a drop-in centre for drug users was opened in the street Na Skalce in Prague 5 in April 2010. Local residents and politicians expressed their disapproval with the activities of the drop-in centre in the area that they defined as residential. The opposition based their arguments against drug services near recreational and educational facilities on the values of home, family, private property and perceived feeling of security. The primary conflict of local residents versus drug service providers was based on processes of ascribing negative characteristics to the group that was identified as unwanted in the community. Stigmatization and labelling of drug users were associated not only with drug users, but also with social workers who offer treatment and help to drug users. The data were collected from media messages and analysed by methods of the grounded theory.

The thesis deals with the issue of care of drug addicts in the in the Czech Republic, particularly the Harm Reduction. The theoretical part of the thesis describes the above-mentioned working procedures with clients, the legislative framework of the services and the current situation on the drug scene in the Czech Republic. The practical part uses a qualitative form of research. The information was collected by means of structured interviews with open questions. The respondents were eleven workers of contact centres in the Central Bohemian region which has five such facilities. I cooperated with four of them for the purposes of the thesis. The objective of the thesis was to demonstrate that the Harm Reduction services are important and beneficial from the viewpoint of workers of contact centres and to find out whether the contact workers have any suggestions about how to improve the Harm Reduction services in the Czech Republic.

The drug treatment staff attitude towards needle exchange is what investigates in this study. The aim of this study is to see what’s affecting the standpoints in the needle exchange issue and also to investigate if the needle exchange is compatible with Swedish drug policy. The study has a qualitative approach and it’s based on eight semi-structured interviews with drug treatment staff. To analyze the empirical material we’ve used Berger and Luckmanns social construction theory, the theoretical concept profession socialization and the four ethical principles: autonomy principle, goodness maximization principle, harm minimization principle and the principle of justice. The result of this study shows that drug treatment staffs are negative to needle exchange efficacy. They don’t believe that needle exchange is compatible with Swedish drug policy which strives for a drug free society. The drug treatment staffs are worried about that harm reduction interventions, such as needle exchange, will lead to a liberalized drug policy and that drug use will be legitimized. They fear that the drug policy will be weakened with harm reduction. The results illustrate that there are numerous factors that influence staff attitudes towards needle exchange, these are profession socialization, workplace, organization, context, the current drug policy as well as knowledgeable of the needle exchange. Keywords: Needle exchange, Injection drug users, Drug treatment staff, Harm reduction and Swedish drug policy.

<p>The drug treatment staff attitude towards needle exchange is what investigates in this study. The aim of this study is to see what’s affecting the standpoints in the needle exchange issue and also to investigate if the needle exchange is compatible with Swedish drug policy. The study has a qualitative approach and it’s based on eight semi-structured interviews with drug treatment staff. To analyze the empirical material we’ve used Berger and Luckmanns social construction theory, the theoretical concept profession socialization and the four ethical principles: autonomy principle, goodness maximization principle, harm minimization principle and the principle of justice.</p><p>The result of this study shows that drug treatment staffs are negative to needle exchange efficacy. They don’t believe that needle exchange is compatible with Swedish drug policy which strives for a drug free society. The drug treatment staffs are worried about that harm reduction interventions, such as needle exchange, will lead to a liberalized drug policy and that drug use will be legitimized. They fear that the drug policy will be weakened with harm reduction. The results illustrate that there are numerous factors that influence staff attitudes towards needle exchange, these are profession socialization, workplace, organization, context, the current drug policy as well as knowledgeable of the needle exchange.</p><p>Keywords: Needle exchange, Injection drug users, Drug treatment staff, Harm reduction and Swedish drug policy.</p>

Background: Injection drug use is a popular and concurrently a very hazardous manner of application. In the Czech Republic there are approximately 45 thousand of problem drug users from which 43 thousand are injection users (Mravčík et al., 2014). There are known and mostly in detail described addictive substances which are mostly preferred by these users and it is also described how these substances work in human organism. However, it is a question how they affect the particular behaviour of the user within the injection application. In 2013 in the Czech Republic there were distributed 6,2 million syringes (Mravčík et al., 2014). Aim: The main goal was to ascertain the frequency of the injection application of drugs in case of the problem users and to estimate the general (annual) consumption of the injection material (according to the prevalence estimate for the given area) depending on the typology of the users (type of used drugs, pattern of usage). Sample: The research bracket was formed by 117 respondents form Prague field programme and low-threshold contact centre. Methods: The chosen method of the data collection was the questionnaire which was developed for the purpose of the thesis and which was realized with the administration of the researcher. Data were processed by descriptive...

Tato práce se zabývá srovnáváním pervitinových a opiátových uživatelů zejména z pohledu kontaktního centra. Teoretická část se zabývá stimulačními drogami, opioidy a srovnáním těchto dvou skupin návykových látek. Tato část se rovněž zabývá závislostí, problémovým užíváním a nízkoprahovými zařízeními. Výzkumná část si klade za cíl získání podrobnějších informací o rozdílech v návštěvnosti kontaktního centra mezi těmito skupinami uživatelů, získání podrobnějších informací o rozdílech využívání jednotlivých služeb nabízených kontaktním centrem mezi těmito skupinami a vytvoření základů pro další podobné studie. Pro výzkum byla stavena nulová hypotéza: problémoví uživatelé pervitinu a uživatelé opiátů během svého prvního roku využívání služeb kontaktního centra toto centrum navštěvují ve stejné míře. V práci je položeno šest výzkumných otázek, které se ptají na poměr uživatelů opiátů a pervitinu, rozdíly ve vzdělání těchto uživatelů a na samotné rozdíly ve využívání jednotlivých služeb. Pro řešení zvoleného problému jsem si vybrala kvantitativní design. Výzkum zpracovává data od celkem 273 problémových uživatelů pervitinu a opiátů. Respondenti pro tuto studii byli vybráni záměrným (účelovým) výběrem přes instituci a jedná se o data již zaznamenaná v databázi programu FreeBase od 1. 1. 2006 do 31. 12....

5 Abstrakt Objectives of the Paper Description of typical communication patterns amongst employees and different types of clients in Low-threshold Centre Drop In o.p.s. displayed on individual case studies; analysis of sub- sequently recorded communication using the methods and concepts of Transactional Analysis. Recommendations for more effective communication between staff and the clients. Integration of the paper as an annex to the Operational Manual of Low-threshold Centre Drop In o.p.s. as an educational document, examining specificities of communication, its pitfalls and difficulties, including promises and possibilities in the organization. Sample File Ten individual case reports, described in a form of multiple case studies, that represent the kinds of clients with whom staff of Low-threshold Centre Drop In o.p.s. often come into contact. The specific content of each case was shaped by compiling many real-life situations, showing particular clients' position. Data Processing Methods Content and form of communication was analyzed using the methods of Transactional Analy- sis, monitoring specific communication patterns, presented in a form of multiple case studies. Individual case reports were situationally analyzed using Transactional Analysis concepts and data were inserted into spreadsheet. Each...

Background: At the point, when injecting still seems to be the most common use among problem drug users and there has been no change in the long term, despite the long tradition of harm reduction services in the Czech Republic, it is important to examine the context of this issue and try to understand it more closely, and therefore understanding the phenomenon of needle fixation. Aims: The paper seeks to address whether the risky behaviour level of the needle-fixated drug users differs from those who are not needle-fixated. The second aim is to examine a possible connection between the injecting users psychopathological characteristics and the phenomenon of needle fixation. The third intention of the work is to find out whether and pošibly how the level of risky behaviour differs among needle-fixated drug users in the context of their psychopathological characteristics. Methods: The chosen method of data collection was a battery of questionnaires: IN-COME questionnaire, BBV-TRAQ, SCL-90 and NEFPRO. The battery of the questionnaire was administered with the participation of the researcher. In addition to descriptive statistical methods, the Mann-Whitney test (4 tests), the Chi-square test (11 tests) and the Spearman correlation coefficient were chosen as methods for testing based on research...

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze changes over time in the interactions of street-involved youth with their risk environments and to investigate how their integration into local, provincial, and federal systems and services impacts their lives, health, and substance use. This thesis employs a sequential explanatory mixed methods design and uses closed and open-ended questions collected over five waves of interviews during the longitudinal study Risky Business? Experiences of Street-Involved Youth. Quantitative (n = 50) methods of analysis include descriptive statistics and bivariate comparisons complemented by a qualitative (n = 15) thematic analysis comprised of open-ended interview questions. The risk environment framework proposed by Tim Rhodes is used to highlight structural and systemic forces informing the lives of street-involved youth, allowing for an analysis on three levels of influence (micro, meso, macro) and four types of environment (economic, physical, social, policy). Results indicate that comparatively high substance use and harms of substance use among street-involved youth decrease as they become integrated into local, provincial, and federal systems and services. Intersecting demographic and structural factors correspond with higher substance use for male youth and youth who had been involved with the foster care system during their life. Given the diversity of backgrounds and risk environment experiences, street-involved youth expressed diverse opinions and perspectives regarding the effectiveness of healthcare, harm reduction, and outreach services. Policy recommendations and suggestions for future research are suggested, with the aim of developing safer environments and environment interventions for street-involved youth that reduce substance use-related harms. / Graduate