Text in English / An increasingly recognised prevention approach for substance use entails reduction in risk factors and enhancement of promotive or protective factors in individuals and the environment surrounding them during their growth and development. However, in order to enhance the effectiveness of this approach, continuous study of risk aspects targeting different cultures, social groups and mixture of society has been recommended. This study evaluated the impact of potential risk and protective factors associated with family management and relations on adolescent substance abuse in South Africa. Exploratory analysis and cumulative odds ordinal logistic regression modelling was performed on the data while controlling for demographic and socio-economic characteristics on adolescent substance use. The most intensely used substances were tobacco, cannabis, cocaine, heroin and alcohol in decreasing order of use intensity. The specific protective or risk impact of family management or relations factors varied from substance to substance. Risk factors associated with demographic and socio-economic factors included being male, younger age, being in lower education grades, coloured ethnicity, adolescents from divorced parents and unemployed or fully employed mothers. Significant family relations risk and protective factors against substance use were classified as either family functioning and conflict or family bonding and support. Several family management factors, categorised as parental monitoring, discipline, behavioural control and rewards, demonstrated either risk or protective effect on adolescent substance use. Some factors had either interactive risk or protective impact on substance use or lost significance when analysed jointly with other factors such as controlled variables. Interaction amongst risk or protective factors as well as the type of substance should be considered when further considering interventions based on these risk or protective factors. Studies in other geographical regions, institutions and with better gender balance are recommended to improve upon the representativeness of the results. Several other considerations to be made when formulating interventions, the shortcomings of this study and possible improvements as well as future studies are also suggested. / Psychology / M. A. (Psychology)

Text in English / An increasingly recognised prevention approach for substance use entails reduction in risk factors and enhancement of promotive or protective factors in individuals and the environment surrounding them during their growth and development. However, in order to enhance the effectiveness of this approach, continuous study of risk aspects targeting different cultures, social groups and mixture of society has been recommended. This study evaluated the impact of potential risk and protective factors associated with family management and relations on adolescent substance abuse in South Africa. Exploratory analysis and cumulative odds ordinal logistic regression modelling was performed on the data while controlling for demographic and socio-economic characteristics on adolescent substance use. The most intensely used substances were tobacco, cannabis, cocaine, heroin and alcohol in decreasing order of use intensity. The specific protective or risk impact of family management or relations factors varied from substance to substance. Risk factors associated with demographic and socio-economic factors included being male, younger age, being in lower education grades, coloured ethnicity, adolescents from divorced parents and unemployed or fully employed mothers. Significant family relations risk and protective factors against substance use were classified as either family functioning and conflict or family bonding and support. Several family management factors, categorised as parental monitoring, discipline, behavioural control and rewards, demonstrated either risk or protective effect on adolescent substance use. Some factors had either interactive risk or protective impact on substance use or lost significance when analysed jointly with other factors such as controlled variables. Interaction amongst risk or protective factors as well as the type of substance should be considered when further considering interventions based on these risk or protective factors. Studies in other geographical regions, institutions and with better gender balance are recommended to improve upon the representativeness of the results. Several other considerations to be made when formulating interventions, the shortcomings of this study and possible improvements as well as future studies are also suggested. / Psychology / M. A. (Psychology)

毒品法庭自美國發展而逐漸影響世界各地，甚至成為台灣修法倡議，是晚近刑事政策的重要議題。為深入了解毒品法庭，除介紹制度的發展概況與具體內涵外，尚將進一步考掘歷史成因及改革困境，並從制度構造及程序法理的二方面剖析其所引發的爭議。最後，將問題帶回台灣，在透過實證數據理解實務現況的基礎上，將改革情勢與制度問題脈絡化進行比較研究，試圖從刑事政策的觀點提出評價性建議，以作為台灣毒品施用者處遇的策進方向。 毒品法庭於其權限範圍內，避免對於毒品施用者施加刑罰，而改採治療的態度與方法，促使其參與以治療為主、多元且細緻的處遇。在此同時，也視其表現給予懲罰或獎勵，進行嚴密監督以強化治療義務的要求，加深毒品施用者兼具病人與犯人身分的矛盾。另一方面，程序轉為合作、案主導向、問題解決，則與以往對抗、案件導向、真實發現有別。藉此反思台灣毒品施用者處遇，重要的毋寧是檢討制度的各種爭議，以及其背後所顯示的刑事政策的價值選擇。 / Drug Courts that have risen from development in the United States have had a gradual influence on the rest of the world, and have even been amended into Taiwanese law. This has been an important issue in recent discussions of criminal policy. In order to understand Drug Courts in detail, this article first introduces the background and the contents of the system, and then explores historical causes and reform dilemmas. It then analyzes the issue from the perspective of institutional structure and procedural legal principles. To then focus the issue back on Taiwan, on the basis of understanding the current state of practice through empirical data, a comparative study of the context of reform and institutional issues is conducted. Finally, this article will attempt to put forward a proposal for an evaluation from the perspective of criminal policy as a strategy for dealing with drug addicts in Taiwan. Within its jurisdiction, the Drug Court will avoid applying penalties to drug users, and instead adopt attitudes and methods that focus on meticulous and multi-faceted methods that promote participation in treatment. At the same time, they also punish or reward based on performance, carry out strict supervision aimed at strengthening requirements and treatment obligations, and deepen the contradiction between the identity of patients and prisoners among drug users. On the other hand, the transition of procedures to collaboration, case-director orientation, and problem solving is different from confrontation, case-orientation, and truth discovery. In this regard, it is important to reflect on the problems with the system and the choice of values of the criminal policy seen behind them.

The purpose of the study was to explore the experiences of female nyaope injectors residing in City of Tshwane Municipality, Gauteng. The study was conducted at COSUP sites namely; Soshanguve, Pretoria CBD, Sunnyside, Mamelodi, Eersterust, and Attridgeville. The study focused on females who have a history of injecting nyaope, accessing substance use related services at a registered service provider within City of Tshwane Municipality, Gauteng. Research design of the study was exploratory, which is basically used to explore a new topic or learn more about phenomenon where little is known. The research approach was purely qualitative methodology. This permitted the researcher to deeply explore the lived experiences of female nyaope injectors residing in City of Tshwane Municipality, Gauteng. A qualitative in-depth interview method was used to collect data from 24 participants who took part in the study. Questions of the interview were semi-structured, in-depth one-on-one interviews and were used to explore the lived experiences of female nyaope injectors residing in City of Tshwane Municipality, Gauteng. The findings of the study revealed that females who are injecting nyaope, are at risk of contracting HIV and other blood-borne infections. The stigma that is perpetuated by families, intimate partners, communities, health care professionals, and police officers is creating a hostile environment for female nyaope injectors; which increases the risk of contracting HIV and other blood-borne infections. Harm reduction services have the potential to address the needs of female nyaope injectors if fully implemented. It can be concluded that there is a need for substance abuse service providers to implement comprehensive harm reduction services to curb HIV prevalence amongst female nyaope injectors. / Health Studies / M.A. (Social Behavioural Studies in HIV/AIDS)

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Methamphetamine (MA) is a widely abused psychostimulant that has been shown to evoke an array of neurobiological abnormalities and cognitive deficits in humans and in rodent models (Marshall & O'Dell, 2012). Alterations in cognitive function after repeated drug use may lead to impaired decision-making, a lack of behavioral control, and ultimately the inability to abstain from drug use. Human studies have shown that alterations in neurobiology resulting from prolonged MA use may lead to a number of cognitive deficits, including impairments in executive function, learning, memory, and impulsivity. These impairments, specifically those that engage the prefrontal cortex (PFC) or hippocampus (HC), may persist or recover based on the duration of abstinence. In rodents, repeated intermittent injections of MA yield protracted changes in neurobiology and behavior, which have been shown to effectively model a number of the biological and cognitive abnormalities observed in addiction. In order to assess the temporal evolution of impaired cognitive function throughout abstinence, sensitization was first induced in rats (7 x 5.0 mg/kg MA over 14 days). MA-treated rats initially exhibited a robust increase in locomotion that transitioned to stereotypy as the induction phase progressed. Then, the effects of MA sensitization on social interaction (SI), temporal order recognition (TOR) and novel object recognition (NOR) was assessed at one-day and 30-days post induction. No differences were observed in SI in either group or after a single injection of MA. However, an acute injection of 5.0 mg/kg of MA 30-minutes prior to testing dramatically reduced SI time. Impairments in TOR and NOR were observed in MA-treated rats after one day of abstinence, and impairments in TOR, but not NOR, were observed on day 30 of abstinence. No differences in TOR and NOR after a single injection of MA or saline were observed. These data establish that after 30 days of abstinence from a sensitizing regimen of MA, the ability to recall the temporal sequence that two stimuli were encountered was impaired and that was not attributable to impaired novelty detection. These data also suggest that at least some of the neurocognitive abnormalities caused by chronic MA administration may normalize after prolonged abstinence, since the ability to detect novelty recovered after 30 days of abstinence. These data provide compelling support that, since MA-sensitization caused temporal deficits in memory, PFC and HC function may be differentially impaired throughout the time course of abstinence.

No description available.

La majorité des personnes utilisatrices de drogues par injection (PUDI) contracteront le virus de l’hépatite C (VHC), les mettant à risque accru de complications hépatiques graves et parfois mortelles. Les comportements les plus risqués pour l’acquisition du VHC incluent le partage de matériel d’injection et l’injection à haute fréquence. Un facteur jusqu’ici négligé dans l’évaluation du risque de VHC est l’aspect dynamique de l’injection, c.-à-d. la manière dont elle varie dans le temps, incluant l’effet des périodes sans injection et celui des changements dans la fréquence d’injection. On reconnaît également l’effet délétère que l’instabilité résidentielle peut avoir sur le risque de VHC, bien que les mécanismes sous-jacents soient mal compris. Cette thèse s’intéresse à l’effet des variations temporelles de l’injection sur le risque de VHC, et à la manière dont la fréquence d’injection évolue en concomitance avec les conditions résidentielles dans le temps, afin d’aider au développement de nouvelles stratégies de prévention du VHC. Les données ont été recueillies entre mars 2011 et juin 2016 dans la Hepatitis Cohort, une cohorte de PUDI suivies trimestriellement à Montréal, au Québec. Une première analyse a évalué l’effet des périodes sans injection de trois mois ou moins sur le risque de VHC sur 916 personnes-années de suivi, par régression de Cox (N=372). Celle-ci suggère que les PUDI présentant des périodes sans injection courtes (3/3 mois sans injection) et sporadiques (1/3 ou 2/3 mois sans injection) sont respectivement 76% et 44% moins à risque de VHC que celles s’injectant de manière persistante (0/3 mois sans injection). Une deuxième analyse a utilisé la modélisation de trajectoires fondée sur le groupement pour identifier cinq types distincts de trajectoires de fréquence d’injection suivies sur une année, lesquels ont ensuite été comparés en termes d’incidence du VHC sur des périodes de suivi allant de 71 à 355 personnes-années (N=386). Les résultats suggèrent que les PUDI dont la fréquence reste élevée (injection fréquente) ou change dans le temps (croissante, décroissante) sont à plus haut risque de VHC que celles s’injectant à basse fréquence (sporadique, peu fréquente). Une dernière analyse a identifié trois types de trajectoires de stabilité résidentielle suivies sur un an (persistance, déclin, amélioration; N=386), lesquels ont été évalués en association avec les trajectoires de fréquence d’injection suivies simultanément. Les résultats suggèrent qu’il existe un lien entre l’amélioration des conditions résidentielles et la diminution de la fréquence d’injection, mais aussi que la probabilité d’injection à fréquence croissante est plus élevée chez les PUDI maintenant des conditions résidentielles stables que celles chez qui elles s’améliorent. Collectivement, les résultats ont de nombreuses implications en termes de prévention du VHC. Cliniquement, l’instabilité de la fréquence d’injection semble être un facteur de risque à monitorer régulièrement. En termes de santé publique, les interventions favorisant l’engagement dans des périodes sans injection ou le maintien d’une basse fréquence d’injection pourraient être prometteuses. Enfin, les stratégies visant l’amélioration des conditions résidentielles pourraient éventuellement aider les PUDI à réduire leur fréquence d’injection, mais être insuffisantes pour maintenir celle-ci à basse fréquence une fois la stabilité atteinte. / The majority of people who inject drugs (PWID) will become infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV), placing them at risk of serious and sometimes fatal liver complications. Injecting behaviours with higher risk of HCV transmission include injecting equipment sharing and high frequency injecting. One factor that has been overlooked when assessing HCV acquisition risk is the dynamic aspect of drug injecting, i.e., how drug injecting varies over time, including the role of injecting cessation episodes and that of changes in injecting frequency. Moreover, there is growing recognition of the deleterious effect unstable housing can have on HCV acquisition risk, although the underlying mechanisms are not yet fully understood. This thesis examines how temporal variations in drug injecting relate to HCV acquisition risk and further explores how housing conditions and injecting frequency evolve together over time, for the purposes of contributing to the development of novel HCV prevention strategies. Data were collected between March 2011 and June 2016 in the Hepatitis Cohort, a prospective cohort study of PWID interviewed and tested for HCV infection at three-monthly intervals in Montréal, Québec. A first analysis examined the effect of injecting cessation episodes of three months or less on the risk of contracting HCV during 916 person-years of follow-up, using Cox regression (N=372). Results suggest that PWID with short injecting cessation episodes (3/3 months without injecting) or sporadic injecting cessation episodes (1/3 or 2/3 months without injecting) are 76% and 44% less at risk of contracting HCV than those with persistent injecting (0/3 months without injecting), respectively. A second analysis used group-based trajectory modeling to identify five distinct types of one-year injecting frequency trajectories and compared these in terms of HCV incidence over follow-up periods ranging from 71 to 355 person-years (N=386). Findings suggest that PWID injecting with consistently high frequencies (frequent) or time-varying frequencies (increasing, decreasing) are at greater HCV acquisition risk compared with those maintaining low injecting frequencies (sporadic, infrequent). Finally, a third analysis identified three types of one-year housing stability trajectories (sustained, declining, improving) and examined their associations with concomitant injecting frequency trajectories (N=386). Findings suggest an association between improving housing stability and decreasing injecting frequency, but also a higher probability of increasing injecting frequency among PWID who maintain housing stability compared to those that improve it. Collectively, these findings have numerous implications for HCV prevention. Clinically, instability in injecting frequency appears to be a risk factor that should be monitored regularly. From a public health perspective, interventions that promote engagement in injecting cessation episodes or maintenance of low injecting frequency may be promising. Finally, strategies aimed to improve housing stability may help PWID to decrease their injecting frequency but may not be sufficient to help them maintain low injecting frequencies once housing stability is achieved.

Against the background of an increase in the demands for treatment of adolescent chemical addiction, as well as the persistently high relapse rate, the significant impact on the development and well-being of chemically addicted adolescents needs to be considered by the social work profession, in order to plan effective intervention strategies. The purpose of this research study was to explore and describe the experiences of chemically addicted adolescents who had relapsed after in-patient treatment. Subsequently, the researcher aimed to generate guidelines and recommendations for social workers, in order to prevent relapse. A qualitative research approach was employed. The researcher made use of descriptive, exploratory and contextual research designs. The study was conducted at adolescent in-patient treatment centres in the Western Cape, South Africa. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews. Interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed, and field notes were taken to record the data. The sample selected from the population of chemically addicted adolescents in the Western Cape who relapsed after in-patient treatment was selected through the purposive sampling technique. Tesch's framework for data analysis (in Creswell, 2003) was employed, and data verification was conducted through Guba's model (in Krefting, 1991:214-222). The research results, concluding guidelines and recommendations are being disseminated by means of this written report. / Social Work / M. Diac. (Social Work)

Afrikaans text / The Canadian and South African legal systems established equivalent constitutional values and principles pertaining to searches conducted with or without a valid search warrant. It creates the basis for a comparative study on this particular aspect. The Supreme Court of Canada held in R v A. M 2008 S.C.C 19 random sniffer dog searches conducted without neither a reasonable suspicion nor any legislative authority on learners enrolled in public schools, is unconstitutional due to its infringement of a learner's reasonable expectation to privacy, as protected in section 8 of the Canadian Charter of rights and Freedoms. South African learners are randomly search by law enforcement officers by using sniffer dogs for purposes of detecting the possession of illegal drugs in instances without neither a reasonable suspicion nor statutory authority. The search is subsequently conducted in terms of the common law. The common law is not regarded as law of general application to limit a fundamental right in terms of the limitation clause. By taking into consideration the ratio in R v A. M (supra) the conclusion is subsequently that random sniffer dog searches conducted on learners in South African public schools, without neither a reasonable suspicion nor statutory authority, is unconstitutional which infringes section 14 of the Constitution of South Africa of 1996. / Die basis vir hierdie studie is ontleen aan die ooreenstemmende vereistes en beginsels in die Kanadese en Suid Afrikaanse reg ten aansien van deursoekings met of sonder 'n wettige lasbrief uitgevoer. In die Kanadese beslissing van R v A.M 2008 SCC 19 is die grondwetlikheid van ewekansige deursoekings met behuip van snuffelhonde op leerders sonder statutere magtiging uitgevoer, deur die Supreme Court of Canada as ongrondwetlik bevind aangesien 'n leerder wel oor 'n redelike verwagting op privaatheid beskik. Indien leerders sonder 'n redelike vermoede en statutere magtiging met behuip van snuffelhonde deursoek word, geskied dit ingevolge die gemenereg en dit word nie beskou as 'n algemeen geldende reg om 'n fundamentele reg kragtens die beperkingsklousule te beperk nie. Met inagneming van die ratio in R v A.M (supra) kan daar dus tot die gevolgtrekking gekom word dat ewekansige deursoekings met behulp van snuffelhonde op Suid Afrikanse leerders in die afwesigheid van 'n redelike vermoede asook sonder statutere magtiging uitgevoer, tans ongrondwetlike optrede daarstel wat op artikel 14 van die Grondwet van 1996 inbreuk maak. / Law (College) / LL.M.

Against the background of an increase in the demands for treatment of adolescent chemical addiction, as well as the persistently high relapse rate, the significant impact on the development and well-being of chemically addicted adolescents needs to be considered by the social work profession, in order to plan effective intervention strategies. The purpose of this research study was to explore and describe the experiences of chemically addicted adolescents who had relapsed after in-patient treatment. Subsequently, the researcher aimed to generate guidelines and recommendations for social workers, in order to prevent relapse. A qualitative research approach was employed. The researcher made use of descriptive, exploratory and contextual research designs. The study was conducted at adolescent in-patient treatment centres in the Western Cape, South Africa. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews. Interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed, and field notes were taken to record the data. The sample selected from the population of chemically addicted adolescents in the Western Cape who relapsed after in-patient treatment was selected through the purposive sampling technique. Tesch's framework for data analysis (in Creswell, 2003) was employed, and data verification was conducted through Guba's model (in Krefting, 1991:214-222). The research results, concluding guidelines and recommendations are being disseminated by means of this written report. / Social Work / M. Diac. (Social Work)