Subject(s)
Attitude of Health Personnel , Complementary Therapies/education , Information Centers , National Institutes of Health (U.S.) , Neoplasms/therapy , Oncology Nursing , Patient Education as Topic , Social Work , Cancer Care Facilities , Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice , Humans , Job Description , Neoplasms/psychology , Nurse's Role , Patient Acceptance of Health Care/psychology , Patient Acceptance of Health Care/statistics & numerical data , Surveys and Questionnaires , United StatesABSTRACT
Despite numerous research studies demonstrating the efficacy of methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) in general and the value of retention in particular, the increasing defunding of this modality has compromised its potential. From 1990 to 1995 the lead author conducted a longitudinal research project to determine the impact of the cost of treatment on 233 San Francisco Bay Area study participants seeking, enrolled in, or defunded from MMT. This paper reports on selected findings from that study. Using variables of drug use, crime, gender and HIV risk, qualitative and quantitative results comparing those seeking treatment with those enrolled in treatment indicated that MMT functioned as a harm-reduction tool. When clients were defunded, however, drug use, crime and HIV risk increased and harm was maximized.
Subject(s)
Heroin Dependence/economics , Heroin Dependence/rehabilitation , Methadone/economics , Methadone/therapeutic use , Narcotics/economics , Narcotics/therapeutic use , HIV Infections/transmission , Humans , Politics , Substance Abuse Treatment Centers/economics , Substance Abuse Treatment Centers/legislation & jurisprudence , United StatesABSTRACT
The increasing prevalence of HIV infection among injection drug users mandates the development of innovative treatments. While extensive clinical experience suggests that acupuncture detoxification is both safe and acceptable to those in withdrawal, little research has been conducted to assess its efficacy as a treatment modality. In this first controlled study of acupuncture heroin detoxification, 100 addicted persons were randomly assigned, in a single-blind design, to the standard auricular acupuncture treatment used for addiction or to a "sham" treatment that used points that were geographically close to the standard points. Attrition was high for both groups, but subjects assigned to the standard treatment attended the acupuncture clinic more days and stayed in treatment longer than those assigned to the sham condition. Additionally, attendance varied inversely with self-reports of frequency of drug use, suggesting that those with lighter habits found the treatment modality more helpful. Limitations of the study are discussed.
Subject(s)
Acupuncture Therapy , Heroin Dependence/rehabilitation , Acupuncture Points , Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Neurologic Examination , Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care , Patient Compliance , Single-Blind Method , Substance Abuse Detection , Substance Withdrawal Syndrome/rehabilitationABSTRACT
Metro-Apex is a computerized gaming-simulation designed to give practitioners and students an understanding of the environment of health care delivery systems. The exercise allows participants to explore the interaction of health roles and the health system's interaction with the larger community system. Originally developed as an air pollution control exercise, it has evolved to be a game about communities and how they operate. In 1972, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare funded the Center for Multidisciplinary Educational Exercises (COMEX), of the University of Southern California to modify Metro-Apex for use with health service planners, health care administrators, and students in programs leading to these positions. The game runs in several rounds of from three to eight hours for groups of from 40 to 120 persons. Used in both educational and training settings, Metro-Apex is found to be a flexible addition to the health educator's tools.