Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 603-641). Also available on the Internet.

September 2012 had become known as a synonym for the methanol scandal in the Czech Republic during which over a hundred of individuals were hospitalized and several dozens of the patients died. This all occurred due to the ingestion of the adulterated alcohol. Whereas partial and time-limited prohibition which restricted the sales of alcoholic beverages with the alcohol content of 20 per cent and higher, was enforced in the Czech Republic from 14th to 27th September 2012. Due to further emerging poisonings in recent years is the topic of the methanol poisonings still relevant. The aim of the diploma paper is to depict the harm reduction strategies targeted on reducing the risks of the methanol poisonings used by the vulnerable target group of the alcoholic beverages consumers. Further are being outlined the risk behavior patterns and strategies in the targeted group of participants. According to the above mentioned aims is relevant to investigate the process of compliance of the emergency measures focused on the end market with the alcohol. Data gathered in the interviews with the retailers will help to obtain the general overview of the situation and supply the information about the possible plunges of the prohibition implementation and the strategies of the demand reduction implementation. The...

Background: Tobacco and nicotine contained in it belongs to the substances with the highest addiction potential. The harmfulness of conventional cigarettes is a publicly known fact, and this is one of the reasons why producers are trying to market other tobacco alternatives. One of them is heated tobacco IQOS, which has only recently appeared on the market in the Czech Republic. IQOS users are an unexplored and unspecified social group whose patterns of use and characteristics are not adequately described in terms of expertise. Aims: The primary objective of the study was to describe the typical patterns of IQOS use among tobacco users in the Czech Republic, who left smoking conventional cigarettes and converted to the use of heated tobacco. The secondary objectives were to describe the characteristics of IQOS use, users' paraphernalia relationships, motivation to convert to the IQOS and the development of patterns of use over a two-month period. Methods: Qualitative research methods were used. The respondents were recruited by the method of deliberate selection together with the snowball method. Participants were recruited via social networks; the process of data creation was done through semi- structured interviews and online survey using two waves design. The research group consisted of 10...

BACKGROUND: Tobacco is the most commonly used addictive substance among adolescents, according to the ESPAD study, and is often the first psychoactive substance to try out in life. However, the risks associated with the use of tobacco at the young age are not negligible. In the Ambulance for children and adolescents addictology Clinics of addictology, where attend adolescents with various addictological and psychological problems, no research regarding the use of nicotine has been carried out. AIMS: The aim of the work is to map and describe the patterns of use of nicotine and motivation for use among children and adolescents with problems with addictive substances or in the field of non-addictive addictions. Another aim of the work is to find the degree of physical dependence on nicotine in the target group of respondents. METHODS: Data were collected using a questionnaire, which included Fagerström's nicotine addiction test for adolescents to assess the degree of physical nicotine dependence in respondents. The questionnaire was submitted in paper form to the clients of the Ambulance for children and adolescents addictology of the Clinic of addictology. The research sample was selected by deliberate selection through the institution. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate the results and...

Background: In recent years, novel heated tobacco products such as IQOS or glo, which began to appear on the Czech market about three years ago, gained popularity. The device is visually appealing in which, unlike regular cigarettes, tobacco is not burned but heated to a temperature of 350 řC. There are several foreign studies on how these tobacco heating products are used, but there is a lack of data on this phenomenon in Czech Republic. Aims: The main aim of this study was to describe patterns of use of heated tobacco products among adult tobacco users in the Czech Republic. Partial aims of the study were to find out what are the motives for using heating tobacco products, what is the nature of use, i.e. the time of use, daily consumption of fillings, and if there is any change in habits of ordinary smoking. Furthermore, the aim was to map in which situations heated tobacco products are used and how the users take care of the equipment. Material and Methods: Data collection was carried out using a quantitative method of improbability selection, namely the method of self-selection through an online questionnaire distributed through selected online channels (websites, forums, social networks). The research group consists of 198 respondents, of whom 182 are IQOS users and 16 are glo users. After...

Background: Adults on social networks and their online behaviour receive less attention than students and children. Yet, we can encounter adult clients who deal with overuse or addiction to Facebook in practice. Facebook remains a frequently visited social network among adults. Aim: The aim of this thesis is to describe the behaviour of adults on the Facebook social network, to describe and classify patterns of use and to find the connection between the pattern of use of this network, the extent of risk and characteristics of users. Methods: This case study, which focuses on the adult Facebook user group, uses data from 6 semi-structured interviews with adult users. The qualitative data from the interview is then supplemented with data from an online questionnaire. The questionnaire had 296 respondents. Respondents were selected by self-selection. Results: The results of this thesis show that adults spend up to an hour and a half on Facebook and often do not actively visit other social networks. Most often, they are on Facebook to communicate with friends or to see what others are sharing. They use Facebook as a tool to escape boredom or for procrastination. High-risk users may be more inclined to go to Facebook early in the morning or in the evening without completing their duties. They may feel...

Aims: To investigate the gender differences in the patterns of cannabis use (CU), namely frequency, times of day, social context and methods and in their association with DSM-IV cannabis dependence. Methods: A sample of 3,904 students from German universities was recruited via an internet survey. Logistic regressions and associated areas under the ROC curve (AUC) were calculated among current cannabis users (at least once a month, n = 843). Results: CU using a water pipe was more often reported by males (50 vs. 34.6%). Usual CU ‘before going to sleep at night’ was more often reported by females (47.3 vs. 35.7%). Most CU patterns showed a similar association with DSM-IV cannabis dependence in both genders. The association of CU ‘with strangers’ was stronger in females (AUC 0.68 vs. AUC 0.56). Slightly different multiple models were found (females AUC 0.86, males AUC 0.77). Conclusions: There are considerable gender differences in the CU patterns and, thus, in the way CU functions. In the association of CU patterns with cannabis dependence, the similarities are rather great. Examining the CU patterns might make a considerable contribution to the better detection of high-risk population segments for prevention and early intervention in both genders. / Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.

Magister Public Health - MPH / Background: Alcohol consumption among adolescents is increasing due to the general availability of alcohol in many community settings. Binge drinking (defined as drinking 5 or more drinks per occasion) (Parry, 2000) is considered the most common type of harmful alcohol consumption among young people. The United States Youth Risk Behaviour Surveillance report proposes that patterns of health risk behaviours are established during youth (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention,2006). The abovementioned report highlights behaviours such as alcohol misuse, drug use and risky sexual behaviour that have the potential to undermine the health and development of youth. Adolescent developmental theories recognise risk behaviours as central to normal adolescent development but there are complex predisposing risk factors that can cause these behaviours to compromise the healthy development of our youth. In order to design and implement effective intervention schemes, we need to understand the dynamics of alcohol use among local youth better, as these play out in their specific social environmental and personal contexts.Aim: The aim of this study was to gain an understanding of what influences the patterns of alcohol use among adolescents in a peri-urban historically disadvantaged community in the Western Cape. The study identified some of the factors that promote and inhibit drinking within the study community from the perspective of the adolescents themselves and a few of the adults who work with adolescents. The study also determined some of the harmful consequences to drinking as described by the adolescents.Method: This was an exploratory study using qualitative research methods. Four focus group discussions were conducted with adolescents aged between 14 and 19 years that were both attending and not attending school. Three key informant interviews with adults who were involved with the youth were conducted.Convenience sampling was used for the non-school attending participants and snowball sampling was used for the school attending youth. The adults in the study were purposively sampled. The study was conducted within the study setting during March and April 2009. Thematic and content analysis was used to interpret the data.The descriptive data was coded and categorised according to themes that emerged during analysis.Results: In general the youth of this study are drinking on weekends. They spend their time on the streets and access alcohol from the many illegal taverns in their neighbourhood. Some of the reasons why adolescents drink include just for the fun of it and because their friends drink and to cope with stress or boredom (risk factors for problem behaviour). Those who don’t drink generally have strong parental role models, have observed some of the harmful effects of alcohol use and seem able to resist peer pressure (protective factors for problem behaviour). There were no significant differences between the perceptions of male and female adolescents regarding alcohol consumption. The black adolescents in general appeared to be more affected by poverty than the coloured adolescents, a factor that influenced their choices around alcohol use. Risky sexual behaviour, rape and fighting seem to be some of the harmful consequences to drinking that are described by the youth of this study. The social environment in which the adolescents of this study live seemed to play a significant role in their attitudes toward drinking. Factors such as a lack of infrastructure for leisure, poverty and a tolerance for public drunkenness are community factors that affect these adolescents but over which they have little or no control.Conclusion: The potential for problem behaviour as perceived by the participants is determined by the balance of risk and protective factors that emanate from their social environment, the community itself and their own personality. Those fortunate enough to have cohesive families with interested adults around them are more likely to be protected from problem behaviour due to drinking.Recommendations: Recommendations from this study include engaging with the youth directly when designing intervention programmes; using peer-led programmes to effect change and to help adolescents to clarify their values; equip them with skills to plan for the future in order to develop their self-efficacy to make the right choices when it comes to alcohol consumption. It is also recommended that intervention programmes address relationships within the community itself such as strengthening parent-child communication; building positive adult role models and empowering community members to challenge issues such as illegal tavern owners serving alcohol to minors.

Aims: To investigate the gender differences in the patterns of cannabis use (CU), namely frequency, times of day, social context and methods and in their association with DSM-IV cannabis dependence. Methods: A sample of 3,904 students from German universities was recruited via an internet survey. Logistic regressions and associated areas under the ROC curve (AUC) were calculated among current cannabis users (at least once a month, n = 843). Results: CU using a water pipe was more often reported by males (50 vs. 34.6%). Usual CU ‘before going to sleep at night’ was more often reported by females (47.3 vs. 35.7%). Most CU patterns showed a similar association with DSM-IV cannabis dependence in both genders. The association of CU ‘with strangers’ was stronger in females (AUC 0.68 vs. AUC 0.56). Slightly different multiple models were found (females AUC 0.86, males AUC 0.77). Conclusions: There are considerable gender differences in the CU patterns and, thus, in the way CU functions. In the association of CU patterns with cannabis dependence, the similarities are rather great. Examining the CU patterns might make a considerable contribution to the better detection of high-risk population segments for prevention and early intervention in both genders. / Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.

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...