Welcome to Effectiveness Bank alerts, a service provided by Drug and Alcohol Findings to alert you
to site updates and recent evaluation research with important practice implications.
HOT TOPICS for March and April 2011
The more important an issue is, the more likely it is to be contested. These are the hot topics,
some new, some perennial, plus some which ought to be hot but have been neglected. Our selection
gives you one-click access to relevant Findings analyses. New entries are drafted or previous ones
updated every two months. The latest set are now at:
http://findings.org.uk/hot_topics.php
Individual links below.
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BRIEF ALCOHOL INTERVENTIONS: CAN THEY DELIVER POPULATION-WIDE HEALTH GAINS?
Not so long ago, virtually universal screening of adult primary care patients, followed by a few
minutes of advice for risky drinkers, was seen as a major way to reduce the burden of
alcohol-related harm. Though still of national importance, ambition in Britain has been scaled back
to screening new patients and/or those thought in advance to possibly be at risk. The rethink was
driven partly by hotly contested research which seemed to show how difficult it was to implement
universal programmes.
http://findings.org.uk/count/downloads/download.php?file=hot_alc_BI.hot
THE THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL OF PATIENTS AND CLIENTS
Hard times and thoughts turn to ways to make dwindling resources go further. Ally this with the new
recovery agenda and the emphasis on getting people out of treatment, and it is no surprise that
mutual aid groups have moved up commissioning and planning agendas. User involvement too is (at
least in the rhetoric) in vogue. Does all this actually benefit clients and patients, or just tick
boxes and save money?
http://findings.org.uk/count/downloads/download.php?file=hot_user_involve.hot
EVER CONTROVERSIAL: PRESCRIBING OPIATES TO OPIATE ADDICTS
After polarised debate in the lead up to the May 2010 UK national government election, opiate
prescribing treatments survived, but for most patients the new national policy aims to eliminate the
distinguishing feature of maintenance prescribing - that is it indefinite and long term. Evidence
alone will not decide the issue, but research does reveal what we and the patients stand to lose or
gain from a change in policy.
http://findings.org.uk/count/downloads/download.php?file=hot_subst_UK.hot
MESSAGE THAT EVERYONE IS NOT DOING IT OFFERS NEW HOPE FOR PREVENTIVE EDUCATION
Science is littered with shining new discoveries which became somewhat tarnished as accumulating
data forced a reappraisal. In substance misuse, normative education (contrasting how common pupils
think substance use is with the reality) retains some of its shine, but what seemed the great hope
for school- and college-based prevention now seems a tactic of limited application and with
inconsistent impacts - and some believe, one way the drinks industry avoids truly effective
restrictions.
http://findings.org.uk/count/downloads/download.php?file=hot_normative.hot
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Drug and Alcohol Findings is managed by DrugScope, Alcohol Concern and the National Addiction
Centre, the two leading UK drug and alcohol information charities and its leading clinical/research
centre. The Effectiveness Bank is supported by the Alcohol Education and Research Council
(http://www.aerc.org.uk).
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