Peer influence is a well-studied and established phenomenon in the social sciences with much research focusing on peers influencing one another in negative ways. However, peers have also been shown to provide a positive influence. Research on substance treatment programs indicates that one's social network can influence one to enter treatment as well as help maintain abstinence following the completion of the program. However, little is known about the influence that peer's drug treatment can have on the substance levels of an individual. I use the peer nomination data and Waves 1 and 2 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health to study this instance of peer influence. Results indicate that having a higher proportion of peers who attend drug treatment is not associated with lower levels of respondent illicit drug, alcohol use, and binge drinking behaviors. Consistent with past findings, having a higher proportion of one's peers who reported drug use is associated with higher levels of respondent substance use. Implications for clinicians and other treatment providers are discussed with an emphasis on the role that strong parental attachment can play in offsetting negative peer influence.

Thesis (MPH.) -- University of Limpopo, 2012 / Tuberculosis (TB) is the cause of 1, 8 million deaths annually, 99% of the deaths occurs in the developing countries and among the poorest people of these countries. Studies between high and low income countries demonstrate that rates of TB are significantly higher in poorer populations. World Health Organization introduced DOTS as global strategy for providing TB services which was expected to be delivered primarily by government run public health services (Malmborg, Mann, Thomson, & Squire, 2006). AIM Investigate factors that influence compliance and non-compliance to treatment among patients on tuberculosis drug treatment. STUDY SITE This study was conducted in Shiluvane local area in Greater Tzaneen Municipality under Mopani District in Limpopo Province, South Africa. One district hospital, one health centre and five clinics were selected for this study: Dr CN Phatudi hospital, Shiluvane Health Centre, Moime, Lenyenye, Mogoboya, Maake and Lephepane Clinics. (v) STUDY DESIGN This is a quantitative and qualitative study as mixed methods were used to get a comprehensive research report. SAMPLING The sample size used 150 of a given population using Morgan and Krejcie table (1994). The case register was used to select respondents. The respondents were selected according to particular interval; each second name on the list was selected. Questionnaire and structured interview was selected for data collection. Questionnaires were distributed among clients who are able to read and write for them to complete, the researcher and the assistant helped to fill questionnaires for those who cannot read or write. The study was conducted at identified hospital, health center and clinics. RESULTS Education Level, the findings of this study displays that only 3,7% of participants hold tertiary qualifications, and 50% secondary education and 37,3% of primary education. Occupation, 76.4% of participants are unemployed. Income, 52,6% of participants earn between R1000-R2999 and 17,5% does not have income. (vi) CONCLUSION In conclusion based on the results and objectives of this study compliance with drug treatment among patients with tuberculosis in Shiluvane local Area, Mopani District, Limpopo province is 90.9%.

<p>Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Umeå universitet, 2003</p> / digitalisering@umu

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-06, Section: A, page: 2670. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 166-206).

This thesis addresses the confluence of the issues of drug use and migration. Using data that explores the needs of new communities, it argues that members of new minority communities who use drugs suffer double discrimination as migrants and as drug users. In failing to address this intersection of need, drug policy and practice compound this discrimination. The data for this submission was drawn from three empirical research projects undertaken for Peterborough Drug Action Team and the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse. These research projects addressed previously unreached communities and gathered new data. I published my work among peer-reviewed literature in the form of two journal articles and a book chapter. The research reports and published works inform my thesis. This submission reanalyses the research, using an intersectional lens to understand problems emanating from drug use in the context of migration. Black and minority ethnic people form a small proportion of problem drug users and their needs were under-researched until the late 1990s. A growing body of research has focused on established minority communities, while the drug treatment needs of members of new groups of migrants, whether economic migrants or refugees, remain hidden. My research addresses the impact of policy and practice on new communities. Engaging with members of hard-to-reach groups via community-based researchers, I gathered views about the attitudes and needs of new minority groups and developed a fresh perspective. My work demonstrates that while drug misusers suffer very real discrimination and stigma they also have strengths that could be assets for their recovery. I offer an analysis of the reasons why these strengths are underutilised by a policy agenda that perceives drug misuse as the main feature of the lives of service users in new minority communities. This perception dates back to the first phase of modern drug policy. During the 1980s drug use spread throughout the country, driven by the availability of cheap heroin. The demography of drug users shifted towards white, younger unemployed men and the drugs/crime nexus became the focus of attention. This determined policy development. The context and profile of drug use has changed since 1980; however the decisions of the past affect those taken in the present, and I argue that policy continues to view other issues in individuals' lives as subsidiary to drug use and its treatment. My work has had an impact in practice and in the academic literature and presents significant new knowledge. In order to respond effectively to drug use in new minority communities, policy and practice must employ an intersectional viewpoint, sharing power and developing coalitions of interest.

In this dissertation, I focus on the social response of criminalization and incarceration to the problem of heroin use among women in Massachusetts in the ongoing era of the United States' "War on Drugs." Based on fieldwork conducted between 2010-2014, I argue that the convergence of therapeutic ideals with the prison system creates a means of governing and regulating these women's lives via what I call the "carceral therapeutic state." I examine various facets of treatment programs in the state women's prison, MCI-Framingham, and a local Boston jail, Suffolk County House of Corrections, including drug treatment, trauma treatment and work readiness programs. I consider how and why these programs in prisons and jails have become means to centralize and solidify the criminal justice system as the predominant site of addiction and mental health treatment for poor women on drugs. / Anthropology

Brain is one of the safe sanctuaries for HIV and, in turn, continuously supplies active viruses to the periphery. Additionally, HIV infection in brain results in several mild-to-severe neuro-immunological complications termed neuroAIDS. One-tenth of HIV-infected population is addicted to recreational drugs such as opiates, alcohol, nicotine, marijuana, etc. which share common target-areas in the brain with HIV. Interestingly, intensity of neuropathogenesis is remarkably enhanced due to exposure of recreational drugs during HIV infection. Current treatments to alleviate either the individual or synergistic effects of abusive drugs and HIV on neuronal modulations are less effective at CNS level, basically due to impermeability of therapeutic molecules across blood-brain barrier (BBB). Despite exciting advancement of nanotechnology in drug delivery, existing nanovehicles such as dendrimers, polymers, micelles, etc. suffer from the lack of adequate BBB penetrability before the drugs are engulfed by the reticuloendothelial system cells as well as the uncertainty that if and when the nanocarrier reaches the brain. Therefore, in order to develop a fast, target-specific, safe, and effective approach for brain delivery of anti-addiction, anti-viral and neuroprotective drugs, we exploited the potential of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) which, in recent years, has attracted significant importance in biomedical applications. We hypothesize that under the influence of external (non-invasive) magnetic force, MNPs can deliver these drugs across BBB in most effective manner. Accordingly, in this dissertation, I delineated the pharmacokinetics and dynamics of MNPs bound anti-opioid, anti-HIV and neuroprotective drugs for delivery in brain. I have developed a liposome-based novel magnetized nanovehicle which, under the influence of external magnetic forces, can transmigrate and effectively deliver drugs across BBB without compromising its integrity. It is expected that the developed nanoformulations may be of high therapeutic significance for neuroAIDS and for drug addiction as well.

Objective: Contingency management (CM) is often criticized for limited long-term impact. This meta-analysis focused on objective indices of drug use (i.e., urine toxicology) to examine the effects of CM on illicit substance use up to 1 year following treatment. Method: Analyses included randomized trials (k = 23) of CM for stimulant, opioid, or polysubstance use disorders that reported outcomes up to 1 year after the incentive delivery had ended. Using random effects models, odds ratios (OR) were calculated for the likelihood of abstinence. Metaregressions and subgroup analyses explored how parameters of CM treatment, namely escalation, frequency, immediacy, and magnitude of reinforcers, moderated outcomes. Results: The overall likelihood of abstinence at the long-term follow-up among participants who received CM versus a comparison treatment (nearly half of which were community-based comprehensive therapies or protocol-based specific therapies) was OR = 1.22, 95% confidence interval [1.01, 1.44], with low to moderate heterogeneity (I² = 36.68). Among 18 moderators, longer length of active treatment was found to significantly improve long-term abstinence. Conclusions: CM showed long-term benefit in reducing objective indices of drug use, above and beyond other active, evidence-based treatments (e.g., cognitive–behavioral therapy, 12-step facilitation) and community-based intensive outpatient treatment. These data suggest that policymakers and insurers should support and cover costs for CM, which is the focus of hundreds of studies demonstrating its short-term efficacy and, now, additional data supporting its long-term efficacy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved) What is the public health significance of this article?—This meta-analysis provides a summary of long-term outcomes of contingency management treatment using objective indices of drug use. Contingency management was found to be more efficacious than either standard care or other evidence-based approaches up to 1 year following the discontinuation of incentives. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

Women comprise one of the fastest growing populations of the criminal justice system, yet little research exists concerning the success of these women completing a coed pretrial drug court diversion program. Trauma theory was applied to inform the variables in this quantitative correlational study. The predictive nature of age, educational level, marital status, violent criminal history, and mental health problems for women were examined in relation to completion of a coed pretrial drug court diversion program. A convenience sample from secondary, archival data was obtained from a criminal justice agency in Washington, DC. The dataset included women who participated in the program between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2014. Logistic regression models were used to predict the likelihood of whether these women completed drug court and determine which independent variables were likely to increase or decrease the probability of program completion. Results of the study failed to yield statistically significant relationships between the variables examined. However, the findings indicate possible relationships between marriage and drug court completion, and postsecondary education and drug court completion, which require additional research. Implications for positive social change are drawn for other criminal justice agencies, drug courts, and administrators for enhancing program delivery and reducing women's recidivism.

Tardive dyskinesia is an insidious and debilitating extrapyramidal side effect of neuroleptic drug treatment. Recent research has suggested that lecithin has been effective in treating tardive dyskinesia. Lecithin's effects were evaluated under double-blind placebo controlled conditions. Treatment conditions included a placebo control group, a lecithin treatment group, and a no-treatment control group. Subjects in the lecithin group received 60 gms/day of lecithin (33 gms of phosphatidylcholine) . Subjects in the placebo group received a similar mixture which contained no lecithin. Subjects received mixtures for 9-11 days. Treatment effectiveness was determined by subjective, objective, and global evaluations. All subjects were evaluated 3 to 4 days prior to treatment and following 9 to 11 days of treatment.