Assignment: Alcohol and Drug Prevention

Assignment: Alcohol and Drug Prevention

After reading the Nissen (2014) article, choose one of the articles listed in the bibliography of the Nissen (2014). Go to the Library and find that article. Read, reflect and evaluate on the information shared in the article. Share your understanding of the approach discussed in the article. Discuss how you see the information in the article may apply with regard to intervention, prevention, and/or treatment to a specific addictive population.

Addictions remain a persistent challenge to mental health practice. There is a need for mental health educators, students, and practitioners to be aware of, critique, contribute to, and, where relevant, utilize emerging scholarly literature to inform their interven- tion strategies. This comprehensive addictions bibliography draws from a wide variety of sources, perspectives, and ideologies to hasten the rate at which academics and prac- titioners can more meaningfully participate in this rapidly developing field of practice.

Key words: addictions; alcohol; best practices; bibliography; drugs; resources

A Snapshot of Valuable Resources for Best Practices in Mental Health and Addictions

Alcohol and drug problems remain persistent challenges for best practices in mental health. No matter what the setting, the reality is that alcohol and drug issues are likely to complicate practice and policy, if not directly drive some aspect of service development and deployment. Addictions issues are frequently co- occurring with one and often multiple other presenting problems. Yet, it is a com- mon critique that practitioners receive too little academic preparation in this area and would benefit from additional infusions of addictions content and skills prac- tice in their educational process (Galvani, 2007). That said, mental health prac- tice has continued to evolve in terms of its presence and attention to the issue.

In recent years the corpus of the addictions literature has continued to expand and diversify into a number of areas and disciplines. This is both full of possibility and confounding because, due to the complexity, it can be more difficult to get a well-rounded diverse perspective on what the field has to offer. For example, the emerging neuroscience of addiction contrasted with harm reduction is further

Alcohol and Drug Prevention, Intervention, and Treatment Literature: A Bibliography for Best Practices

Laura Burney Nissen

© 2014 Lyceum Books, Inc., Best Practices in Mental Health, Vol. 10, No. 1, April 2014

Laura Burney Nissen, PhD, LMSW, CADC III, is dean and professor in the School of Social Work, Portland State University, Portland, OR.

triangulated with emerging evidence-based practices with special populations. Further, the addictions literature is not one cohesive entity. It contains contra- dictions, competing ideologies, fragmented discipline-specific languages, and dra- matically different points of view.

This bibliography was developed to provide an introductory overview to the wide range and scope of resources that exist in the addictions field, but it is specif- ically tailored to the needs and interests of educators, students, and practitioners of best practices in mental health where co-occurring substance use is all too com- mon. It is intended only to serve as a snapshot from this point in time, given that every day more useful information emerges and becomes part of this body of knowledge. It is offered to assist those wishing to participate as consumers, critics, co-creators, and members of this important community. Table 1 provides a list of the topics included in the bibliography.

60 Best Practices in Mental Health

Table 1 Organization of Bibliography

General Identity groups Other issues/settings/topics

—Definitions (addictions and recovery, articles and primers)

—Workforce —Alcoholics Anonymous

related —History —Alcohol industry —Disparities, social determi-

nants of health/addiction, and other culturally relevant treatment (general)

—Evidence-based practices —Family —Role of community in

recovery —Neuroscience and addiction —Effectiveness in

treatment/cost-benefit analysis

—Harm reduction —Addiction program issues —Treatment settings/types —Addictions social policy —Addictions managed

care/Affordable Care Act (ACA)/quality

—Legal issues —International addiction/

treatment issues —Recovery movement

—First person narratives of addiction and recovery

—Women —Latino —Native American/First

Nations —African American —Asian/Pacific Islanders —Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual,

Transgender, and Queer —Youth and youth systems —Elders —Disabilities

—Screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT)

—HIV/AIDS (includes Hepatitis C articles)

—Intimate partner violence —Involuntary clients —Child welfare —Corrections —Stigma —Co-occurring disorders —Trauma and addictions —Fetal alcohol syndrome —Religion/spirituality in

addiction —Sex work and addictions —Sexual addictions —Gambling —Internet addiction —Tobacco —Poverty and addictions —Social construction/discourse

of addiction —Stages of change —Motivational interviewing —Substance abuse among