Objectives: To show forgiveness to be a central component in substance abuse and recovery and to encourage the empirical investigation of such realtionships. Methods: Literature reviewed and synthesized to support the role of forgiveness in addiction and recovery and to justify its empirical investigation. Results: The construct and process of forgiveness are present in 12-Step Facilitation Therapy, Motivational Enhancement Therapy, and Cognitive Behavioral Coping Skills Therapy, and other psychotherapies applicable to the treatment of substance abuse. Nevertheless, few studies exist to provide empirical support for these relationships. Conclusions: Religion and spirituality can have a salutary effect on substance use disorders. However, little is known regarding the effects of specific manifestations of religiosity and spirituality. Forgiveness, decreasing negative responses to offense irrespective of interaction with the offender, has been argued to be highly relevant to problematic substance use. Although the process of forgiveness is conceptually found in empirically validated forms of treatment for alcohol problems, little quantitative evidence exists to verify and illuminate the relationships between forgiveness and substance abuse. Empirical investigation into the basic, indirect, contextual, and interventional relationships between forgiveness and substance use disorders, including development, maintenance, and recovery, is warranted and encouraged.

Background: Research finds a strong association between substance use and risky sexual behavior but more needs to be known about this relationship. Few studies have examined this relationship among rural sixth- to eighth-grade students. As such, the purposes of this study were to provide a descriptive profile of rural sixth- to eighth-grade students' substance use behavior and sexual activity and to examine the relationship between substance use behaviors and sexual activity. Methods Participants consisted of a convenience sample of 10,273 middle school students (sixth to eighth grade) attending 10 public schools in rural Tennessee. The middle school Youth Risk Behavior Survey was administered to these students during April and May 2004. Results Analysis found that a large percentage of students had tried cigarettes, alcohol, and inhalants. Additionally, it was found that sexual intercourse had been initiated by 18.8% of females and 25.4% of males. Of those students who reported ever having had sexual intercourse, 75% had reported the use of cigarettes and alcohol. In addition, approximately 50% of those students reported marijuana and inhalant use. Conclusions The results suggest that substance use behavior has a relationship with the likelihood of initiating sexual activity. Additional longitudinal research with this population will be needed for explaining whether these select substance use behaviors are probable risk factors predisposing young rural adolescents to report engaging in sexual behaviors or a result of other factors.

We investigated the relationship between family structure and substance use in a sample of 2,138 public middle school students in a southern state. The CDC Middle School Youth Risk Behavior Survey was utilized and adjusted logistic regression models were created separately for four race/gender categories (African American females/males, and Caucasian females/males) to examine associations among selected drug use variables (tobacco, alcohol, marijuana and inhalants). Analyses were adjusted for social economic status. Results suggested differences (p .05) among race/gender groups for the protective effect of living in an intact family (both mother and father, real or adoptive) regarding substance use among middle school students. In addition, family structure appeared to have a stronger relationship with substance use for Caucasians as opposed to African American adolescents. Caucasian adolescents living in cohabitated family households were more likely to report substance use, when compared to those living in intact two-parent households. Adolescents who are undergoing parental divorce may need special attention as they transition into new family structures.

This study examined which particular facets of mindfulness (nonreactivity, observing thoughts and feelings, acting with awareness, describing experience, and nonjudging of experience) accounted for improvements in mood and warning signs of relapse in an adult population. This exploratory study examined the impact of the five facets of mindfulness on both warning signs of relapse and mood in a primarily minority adult population in a residential substance abuse treatment facility. Results showed that all five facets were significantly correlated with mood and warning signs at the bivariate level. When considering the facets together, observing and nonjudging were related to mood, and acting with awareness and nonjudging were related to warning signs. Implications for future research and practice are offered.

Substance Use Disorder (SUD) has plagued families of rural Appalachia for many years, perpetuating involvement in the criminal justice system as well as generational trauma for people diagnosed with SUD as well as their children. This points to the necessity of a trauma-informed, restorative-justice based framework for rehabilitative services to most effectively heal families, address trauma, and re-integrate people diagnosed with SUD into society. A restorative justice-based program would provide health care services for addiction and any comorbid mental health disorders as well as teach parents how to properly provide for themselves and their families, manage finances, obtain employment, and further education. Current rehabilitative program structures were evaluated in the literature, and it was found that typically, rehabilitative programs provide either strictly addiction services or mental health services, but not both. It was also found that the criminal justice system tends to sentence to 28-day inpatient rehabilitative services, which provides people diagnosed with SUD an opportunity to achieve sobriety and establish some stability; however, with little or no follow up, these people are significantly more likely to relapse. These findings were compared with the structure of Ballad Health Strong Futures, an outpatient addiction services and behavioral health clinic located in Greeneville, TN. It was found that rehabilitative care structures that addresses trauma, addiction, and aspects of daily living such as parenting, finances, education, and employment provides clients with the tools and stability they need to be successful in their respective recovery journeys. This work will provide significant insight for the creation and implementation of other substance use clinics across the country and encourage them to address addiction, mental health, and aspects of daily living to promote clients' success and break cycles of generational trauma.

This study explores frontline support workers’ perspectives on how mothers’ needs and children’s rights are balanced in harm reduction programs in an urban centre in Alberta, Canada. Interviews were conducted with five (5) workers employed at harm reduction programs supporting mothers and/or children facing circumstances related to substance use, domestic violence, mental health, poverty, homelessness, and criminal justice system involvement. The interviews, along with content from publicly available (web-based) program descriptions, were analyzed through a theoretical framework that mobilizes theories of intersectional stigma (both on symbolic/interactional and structural levels). Participants revealed that intersectional stigma emerges from an abstinence-based child welfare system (namely, Children’s Services (CS) in Alberta), which constitutes a major barrier to ensuring the best interests of both mothers and children. Such stigma manifests based on the intersecting identities that women hold as mothers, as substance users, as partners who face violence, as criminalized persons, and more. Experiences of these barriers disproportionately impact mothers who do not meet idealized standards of mothering—standards which seem to be upheld and reproduced by the medicalization of motherhood. These families are more vulnerable to interventions including child apprehensions, which have severe impacts for both mothers and their children. The perspectives of the frontline support workers point to the importance of a harm reduction approach as an alternative to the current harm elimination one, but identified tensions between harm reduction and harm elimination remain a barrier to balancing the best interests of both mothers and children. Despite these tensions, the participants discuss their own practices of self-awareness and reflection and point to relationship building, non-judgment, and client-centering as essential to the role of the frontline worker who adopts a harm reduction approach.

No description available.

In the United States, an estimated 20% of college students have an Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). AUD is conceptualized as compulsive use of alcohol even when presented with adverse effects. Historically, student activities and organization-involvement (e.g., Greek life) was a hypothesized risk factor for student substance use. However, other studies suggest that joining clubs and developing a support system during college can protect against substance use disorders. Undergraduate students were recruited from a South Eastern University using a university-sponsored, online recruitment website. The sample was predominantly White (n = 150; 86.70%) and female (n = 127; 73.40%). We hypothesized those involved in honors, faith-based, academic, and service activities, as well as recipients of academic scholarships, would be less likely to misuse substances. Greek life members, athletes, and those not involved in activities were hypothesized to report increased substance use. Although our research cannot specify what individually discourages students from misusing substances due to its cross-sectional methodology, our findings support that those involved in campus activities report lower levels of alcohol and drug use. Mean drug use and alcohol use scores did not significantly differ between activity groups, nor scholarship recipients. Those involved in university athletics reported a wide variety of specific drug use three months prior to taking the survey. In turn, involvement with no activities and athletic participation were classified as risk factors for college substance use.

No description available.

Empathy is one of the most important skills a mental health counselor can have. For instance, empathy plays a key role in retention and engagement in therapy for substance use disorder (SUD), which leads to improved client outcomes. Historically, SUD treatment has been provided by those in recovery with little formal education about counseling. Currently, academic requirements for SUD counselors vary, and most master'€™s level education programs rarely address SUDs. To determine whether SUD experience alone is related to empathy, a 2x2 factorial ANOVA was used in this study to examine the relationship between two independent variables (education status and recovery status) against the dependent variable of empathy for 607 SUD counselors. Findings showed that recovery status was not indicative of SUD counselor empathy, and graduate level education was associated with empathy in SUD counselors. As the epidemic of addiction continues to grow, having a competent workforce of licensed/credentialed SUD counselors is imperative, and this research shows that having a master'€™s degree in counseling may influence empathy in SUD counselors. Thus, the results of this research have the potential to shape licensure/credentialing processes for those seeking a career in the SUD field and improve outcomes for individuals with a SUD.