Prevalence and factors associated with potential substance use disorders among police officers in urban Tanzania: a cross-sectional study.
BMC Psychiatry
; 23(1): 175, 2023 03 16.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36927411
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) among Police Officers has been a concern to many professionals in the field of health, research and criminal justice since their work is subjected to higher levels of stress and hence more likely to use alcohol or tobacco as a coping mechanism. However, little is known about SUDs among Police Officers in Tanzania. Therefore, we assessed the prevalence and factors associated with SUDs among Police Officers in urban Tanzania. MATERIALS ANDMETHODS:
A cross-sectional study was conducted between April and October 2019 among Police Officers in Dar es Salaam. Multistage cluster sampling technique was used to recruit study participants. The WHO-Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) version 3.0 was used to measure potential SUDs. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to establish associations between potential SUDs and predictors of interest, and an alpha of 5% was used in sample size calculation.RESULTS:
A total of 497 participants were enrolled, of these, 76.6% (376/491) were males, the median age (years) and IQR was 37.0 (30.0, 47.0). The prevalence of past three months use of alcohol and tobacco were 31.3% and 6.3%, respectively. About 13.3% (62/468) and 6.2% (29/468) of Police Officers met criteria for potential Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) and potential Tobacco Use Disorder (TUD) respectively. In adjusted analysis, participants with depression had about two times increased odds for potential AUD (aOR 2.27, 95% CI; 1.12 - 4.58, p = 0.023) than those with no depression. Potential AUD and depression were associated with about eight times (aOR 8.03, 95% CI; 3.52 - 18.28, p < 0.01) and more than twice (aOR 2.63, 95% CI; 1.12 - 6.15, p = 0.026) higher odds for potential TUD respectively.CONCLUSION:
Substance use and potential substance use disorders particularly AUD and TUD are common among Police Officers in urban Tanzania. Depression was found to be an important factor for potential AUD and TUD among Police Officers and, a significant co-occurrence of potential AUD with potential TUD was observed. Findings from this study call for interventions, for example, the need to routinize the brief motivational interview services for alcohol and tobacco use among Police Officers.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
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Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Tabagismo
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Transtornos Relacionados ao Uso de Substâncias
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Alcoolismo
Tipo de estudo:
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Adult
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Female
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Humans
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Male
País como assunto:
Africa
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article